Acute and chronic ethanol consumption cause oxidative stress and ginger improves the conditions. In the present study the protective effects of ginger on indices of oxidative stress, homocysteine and trace elements against toxicity induced by ethanol in rat eye were studied. Twenty four adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly allocated into four groups and were treated daily for 28 days as follows: group I: control, group II: ginger (1g/kg/day ginger extract by oral gavage), group III: ethanol (4g/kg/day ethanol by oral gavage) and group IV: ginger+ethanol. At the end of experimental period, tissue sera was used for estimating parameters evaluated. Furthermore, in vitro antioxidant potential of ginger extract was determined. In ethanol group, significant changes in indices of oxidative stress, homocysteine and level of trace elements compared to other groups were observed (P<0.05). The levels of indices of oxidative stress, homocysteine and level of trace elements ameliorated significantly in ginger+ethanol group (P<0.05), while no significant difference among the parameters were observed in ginger alone and control groups. It can be concluded that ginger extract has the protective effects against toxicity induced by ethanol in the eye of male rat. The protective effect may be due to the presence of phytochemical components and other features that are unknown.
