Protective effect of Zingiber officinale extract and vitamin C in modulating radiation-induced brain damage in male albino rats

Background: Radiation therapy is associated with a risk of long-term adverse effects.Ginger extract has several components that have many biological activities and vitamin c has also been recognized for protection against radiation-induced cell damage.The present study is designed to investigate the possible ameliorating effect of ginger extract and vitamin C on radiation-induced oxidative body damage.Ginger extract and vitamin C were daily given to rats during 14 days before starting irradiation.Materials and Method: Rats were exposed to gamma radiation (6 Gray).Results: the result revealed that the levels of lipid peroxidation measured in brain tissues such as malondialdehyde (MDA), acetylcholinesterase (AChE) were significantly increased, while reduced the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione (GSH) content, dopamine (DA) and serotonin (ST) levels were significantly decreased in the brain homogenate of irradiated rats.Gamma-irradiation (6 Gy) resulted in a significant elevation in inflammatory markers of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-12 (IL-12) and C-reactive protein (CRP) compared to the control group.The rats that were administrated combined treatment with ginger extract and vitamin C showed significantly less severe damage and remarkable improvement in all of the last mentioned parameters when compared to irradiated rats.Conclusions: According to the results obtained it could be concluded that a combined treatment with ginger extract by its antioxidant constituents, and vitamin C might be a useful candidate against radiation-induced oxidative stress, enzyme activities in the brain and metabolic disorders without any toxicity.