GINGER ETHANOLIC EXTRACT, GINGER OIL OR RICE BRAN OIL INDUCED HEPATOPROTECTIVE EFFECT AGAINST FATTY LIVER IN RATS

Hepatoprotective effect of ethanol extract of ginger, ginger oil or rice bran oil against fatty liver disease which induced by ethanol stress was investigated in the present study. Thirty six (36) male albino rats were classified into 6 groups as follows: 1- Normal control (NC), 2- Positive control (induced fatty liver by ethanolic stress) (PC+), 3- rats group administered ethanol and ginger extract (GE group), 4- rats group administered ethanol and ginger oil (GO group), 5- rats group administered ethanol and rice bran oil (RBO group) and 6- rats group administered ethanol and DMSO (DMSO  control group, because GE, GO and RBO were dissolved in DMSO as a vehicle). Results revealed that hepatic triglycerides was significantly (p≤0.05) raised to 80.7 mg/g liver, in positive control (PC+), compared to 15.98 mg/g liver in normal control (NC). Also significant increase (p≤0.05) in levels of ALT (69.41 U/L), AST (62.98 U/L) and ALP (121.65 U/L) in PC+, compared to their levels in NC (23.35 U/L), (27.95 U/L) and (73.45 U/L) respectively. In addition, high significant level was observed in serum triglycerides (214.37 mg/dl), total cholesterol (TC) (99.81 mg/dl) and LDL cholesterol (47.75 mg/dl) in PC+, compared with its values in NC group: (74.22 mg/dl), (31.45 mg/dl), (4.21 mg/dl) respectively. However, significant (p≤0.05) decrease was noticed in HDL cholesterol level (9.18 mg/dl) in PC+, compared to NC (12.39 mg/dl). On the other hand, treatment by ethanolic ginger extract (200 mg/kg body weight) showed a hepatoprotective effect which confirmed by remediation the values of hepatic TG, ALT, AST, ALP, TP, Alb, besides serum TG, TC, HDL-C and LDL-C in GE group as compared with their values in NC and PC+. Moreover, treatment by ginger oil (200 mg/kg body weight) and rice bran oil (200 mg/kg body weight) displayed a protective effect in GO or RBO groups, but lower than GE. In addition, ethanol extract of ginger disclosed very high antioxidant activity (IC50 = 18.25 µg/ml) compared to both ginger oil (IC50 = 6714.38 µg/ml) or rice bran oil (IC50 = 1409.57 µg/ml). Finally the present study indicates that ethanol extract of ginger showed hepatoprotective effect more than either ginger oil or rice bran oil.