Study of Histopathologic changes of the effect of Zingiber extract on mice kidneys

The use of botanical medicine is ancient, and plant chemicals are still the backbone of our pharmacopoeia because more than 50 % of drugs used in Western pharmacopoeia are isolated from herbs or derived from modification of chemicals first found in plants. Zingiber officinale Roscoe. (Ginger) is a spice that has been used from two thousand years ago as a medicine in several Asian countries. Recent studies showed that it has various pharmacological effects. So in this study the effect of Zingiber on mice renal system has investigated. Ginger ethanol extract was administered every 48 hours for a period of 20 days, intraperitoneally (IP) to male mice. The liver, kidney and bladder were collected as tissue samples from executed animals for pathological examination. On pathological examination, there were no morphological changes under light microscope in the liver. A histological examination of kidneys shows that after treatment with the low and middle doses (10, 20 mg/kg/48h) the ginger produced little damaging effects on the kidney, it appears that ginger has no adverse effects in renal function, but the extract in higher doses (40 mg/kg/48h) may have some negative effects on the renal function. Undergo observable chances the renal toxicity was significantly enhanced there were interstitial inflammation, Formation of hyaline cast, Regeneration of renal tubules, Glomerulosclerosis, Hypertrophy of glomeruli, Basement membrane thickening. This indicated that with regards to the results ginger in high doses induce histological changes in the kidneys, indicating the need to identify a safe dose range for ginger.