Effects of Zingiber officinale and Allium sativum on the Liver Enzymes of Albino Rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Aim: To determine the effect of ethanolic extract of Zingiber officinale and Allium sativum on the liver enzymes of albino rats.

Study Design: Experimental study.

Place and Duration of Study: CNed Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, Nsukka, Nigeria, between September – October, 2019.

Methodology: Adult Wistar rats of both sexes weighing 100-160g were obtained from an animal house of the Department of Animal Science, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nigeria. The experimental animals were acclimatized for one week and fed with standard laboratory diet (finishers feed) and water ad libitum. The plant materials (Garlic and Ginger were extracted using the Soxhlet method. The rats were divided into seven groups of three rats each and were given different treatments. At the end of every stage of the experiment, all animals were fasted for 12 hours and thereafter sacrificed after mild anesthesia with chloroform. Blood samples (5 ml) were collected from the eye of each rat weekly and analyzed for liver enzymes, using spectrophotometric methods. Data generated were analyzed using Social Sciences (SPSS) of IBM Corporation, Armonk, USA) version 21. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the experimental groups with Duncan multiple range tests used in partitioning the mean while the student t-test was used to compare the duration. Results were expressed as mean ± SEM and values with P<0.05 were considered statistically significant as described by Duncan, (1955).

Results: From the results of the acute toxicological screening, the oral LD50 was calculated and found to be: 1414 mg/kg for ginger extract 3162 mg/kg for garlic and ginger extract and >5000 mg/kg for garlic extract. Results for ALP showed a mean of 37.90 ± 3.48 μ/L and 55.97 ± 0.61 μ/L for ginger (100mg/kg) week 1 and 2 respectively, and there was a significant increase in ALP (p=0.034). Values for ALT showed significant increases (0.043) for ginger (200mg/kg) and garlic and ginger (both 100 and 50 mg/kg). All combinations of plants and concentrations were significant for AST, while only ginger at 100mg/kg showed significant difference when values for week 1 and 2 were compared for GGT.

Conclusion: This suggests that garlic extract exerts an acute effect in rats, contrary to ginger extract which exerts a chronic effect (that is to say, effect becomes more prominent with increase in duration of consumption).