Abstract
Background: Fatty liver causes were markedly increased in Egyptian people throughout last years. People prefer to use the medicinal plants instead of using chemical compounds because they are cheap and have few side effects compared to chemical compounds. Ginger is a natural dietary rhizome with anti- oxidative, anti-inflammatory, and anti-carcinogenic activities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible potential therapeutic and protective effects of Zingiber officinale (ginger) against oxytetracyclin- induced fatty liver in an attempt to understand its mechanism of action, which may pave the way for possible therapeutic applications.
Material and Methods: Albino rats were divided into two major groups, 15 rats for each. The first group was divided into three sub-groups: a) control, b) fatty liver group; that was injected intraperitonealy with oxytetracycline (120mg/kg) for three consecutive days and c) ginger treated group; which was treated with ginger water extract (125 mg/kg) for 30 days after fatty liver induction . All animals were scarified after 33 days of the beginning of the experiment. The second group was divided into three subgroups: a) control, b) fatty liver group; that was injected intraperitonealy with oxytetracycline (120 mg/kg) for three consecutive days and c) ginger protective group; which received ginger for 15 days before induction of fatty liver, then sacrificed after induction of fatty liver (3 days). Blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis. Liver specimens were obtained and fixed in 10% formalin for histological study. Results: Fatty liver groups showed high significant increase in serum glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, ALAT, ASAT, GGT, LDH, urea, creatinine and A/G ratio while total protein, albumin, globulin and HDL cholesterol were significantly decreased compared to control group. These biochemical changes were accompanied with histopathological alterations in fatty liver tissue. The treatment with ginger ameliorated most of the evaluated biochemical parameters and improved the induced degenerative histopathological changes. The pre-treatment with ginger before the induction of fatty liver gave some protection against factors that experimentally induced fatty liver.
Conclusion: Ginger as diet additive is recommend for fatty liver patients or those people who have hyperlipidemic family history.