title: Zingiber officinale acts as a nutraceutical agent against liver fibrosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Zingiber officinale Roscoe (ginger) (Zingiberaceae) has been cultivated for thousands of years both as a spice and for medicinal purposes. Ginger rhizomes successive extracts (petroleum ether, chloroform and ethanol) were examined against liver fibrosis induced by carbon tetrachloride in rats.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The evaluation was done through measuring antioxidant parameters; glutathione (GSH), total superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA). Liver marker enzymes; succinate and lactate dehydrogenases (SDH and LDH), glucose-6-phosphatase (G-6-Pase), acid phosphatase (AP), 5'- nucleotidase (5'NT) and liver function enzymes; aspartate and alanine aminotransferases (AST and ALT) as well as cholestatic markers; alkaline phosphatase (ALP), gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT), total bilirubin were estimated. Liver histopathological analysis and collagen content were also evaluated. Treatments with the selected extracts significantly increased GSH, SOD, SDH, LDH, G-6-Pase, AP and 5'NT. However, MDA, AST, ALT ALP, GGT and total bilirubin were significantly decreased.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Extracts of ginger, particularly the ethanol one resulted in an attractive candidate for the treatment of liver fibrosis induced by CCl4. Further studies are required in order to identify the molecules responsible of the pharmacological activity.
authors.affiliation: Therapeutic Chemistry Department, National Research Center, El-Tahrir St,, Dokki, Cairo, 12311, Egypt. manal_hamed@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Tarek K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Motawi
authors.forename: Manal A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hamed
authors.forename: Manal H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Shabana
authors.forename: Reem M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Hashem
authors.forename: Asmaa F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Aboul Naser