title: Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) prevents the development of morphine analgesic tolerance and physical dependence in rats.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe), a well-known spice plant, has been used traditionally in the treatment of a wide variety of ailments such as opiates withdrawal-induced disorders. However, its influences on opioid tolerance and dependence have not yet been clarified.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adult male Wistar rats were rendered tolerant to analgesic effect of morphine by injection of morphine (10 mg/kg, i.p.) twice daily for 8 days. To develop morphine dependence, rats given escalating doses of chronic morphine. To determine the effect of ginger on the development of morphine tolerance and dependence, different doses of ginger were administrated before morphine. The tail-flick and naloxone precipitation tests were used to assess the degree of tolerance and dependence, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results showed that chronic morphine-injected rats displayed tolerance to the analgesic effect of morphine as well as morphine dependence. Ginger (50 and 100 mg/kg) completely prevented the development of morphine tolerance. In addition, concomitant treatment of morphine with 100 and 150 mg/kg attenuated almost all of the naloxone-induced withdrawal sings which include weight lose, abdominal contraction, diarrhea, petosis, teeth chattering, and jumping. In addition, morphine-induced L-type calcium channel over-expression in spinal cord was reversed by 100 mg/kg ginger.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data indicate that ginger extract has a potential anti-tolerant/anti-dependence property against chronic usage of morphine.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, Kerman Neuroscience Research Center (KNRC), Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Darvishzadeh-Mahani
authors.forename: Saeed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Esmaeili-Mahani
authors.forename: Gholamreza
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Komeili
authors.forename: Vahid
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sheibani
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zare
mesh_terms: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D000818:Animals; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy; D004361:Drug Tolerance; D000431:Ethanol / Q000737:chemistry; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000187:drug effects; D020939:Zingiber officinale; D008297:Male; D009020:Morphine; D009021:Morphine Dependence / Q000188:drug therapy*; D009270:Naloxone / Q000494:pharmacology; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018517:Plant Roots; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D010936:Plant Extracts; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D009270:Naloxone; D000431:Ethanol; D009020:Morphine