title: Zingiber Officinale Alters 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine-Induced Neurotoxicity in Rat Brain.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The spice Zingiber officinale or ginger possesses antioxidant activity and neuroprotective effects. The effects of this traditional herbal medicine on 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) induced neurotoxicity have not yet been studied. The present study considers the effects of Zingiber officinale on MDMA-induced spatial memory impairment and apoptosis in the hippocampus of male rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this experimental study, 21 adult male Sprague Dawley rats (200-250 g) were classified into three groups (control, MDMA, and MDMA plus ginger). The groups were intraperitoneally administered 10 mg/kg MDMA, 10 mg/kg MDMA plus 100 mg/kg ginger extract, or 1 cc/kg normal saline as the control solution for one week (n=7 per group). Learning memory was assessed by Morris water maze (MWM) after the last administration. Finally, the brains were removed to study the cell number in the cornu ammonis (CA1) hippocampus by light microscope, Bcl-2 by immunoblotting, and Bax expression by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Data was analyzed using SPSS 16 software and a one-way ANOVA test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Escape latency and traveled distances decreased significantly in the MDMA plus ginger group relative to the MDMA group (p<0.001). Cell number increased in the MDMA plus ginger group in comparison to the MDMA group. Down-regulation of Bcl-2 and up-regulation of Bax were observed in the MDMA plus ginger group in comparison to the MDMA group (p<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that ginger consumption may lead to an improvement of MDMA-induced neurotoxicity.
authors.affiliation: 1. Research Institute for Islamic and Complementary Medicine (RICM), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ; 2. Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mehdizadeh
authors.forename: Fataneh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dabaghian
authors.forename: Akram
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nejhadi
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fallah-Huseini
authors.forename: Samira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Choopani
authors.forename: Nima
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shekarriz
authors.forename: Nima
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Molavi
authors.forename: Arghavan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Basirat
authors.forename: Farzaneh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mohammadzadeh Kazorgah
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Samzadeh-Kermani
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Soleimani Asl
keywords: Apoptosis; Bcl-2 Family; Ginger; Hippocampus; MDMA; Spatial Memory