effect of hydroalcoholic extract of ginger on the liver of epileptic female rats treated with lamotrigine

objective: lamotrigine is an antiepileptic drug, widely used in the treatment of epilepsy; long-term use of this drug can cause hepatotoxicity. zingiber officinale roscoe (ginger) possesses antioxidant properties. in present research, the effect ofhydroalcoholic extract of ginger (heg) on the liver of lamotrigine-treated epileptic rats was investigated material and methods: forty-eight female wistar rats were selected and allocated to 8 groups of 6 each.  group 1: negative controls were treated with normal saline. group 2: positive controls were treated with lamotrigine (ltg) (10 mg/kg) daily by gavages for 4 consecutive weeks. epilepsy was induced in treatment groups by i.p. injection of pentylenetetrazol (ptz) (40 mg/kg). group 3: epileptic group received normal saline (10 ml/kg). group 4: epileptic group was treated with ltg (10 mg/kg). groups 5 and 6: epileptic groups received heg (50 and 100 mg/kg). groups 7 and 8: epileptic groups received ltg and heg (50 and 100 mg/kg). at the end of 28 days, blood samples were drawn and their livers were processed for light microscopy. results: the mean values of tg, chol, ast, and alt activity significantly rose (p<0.01) in groups 2, 3, and 4, while in rats treated with heg (groups 5, 6, 7, and 8), the levels of liver enzymes significantly decreased (p<0.05) compared with epileptic group treated with lamotrigine (group 4). histopathological changes of liver samples were comparable with respective control. conclusion: these results suggest that hydroalcoholic extract of ginger improves liver function in lamotrigine-induced hepatotoxicity.