Abstract Oxidative damage is one of the most important reasons for chronic renal failure and ginger improves the conditions. In the present study the protective effects of ginger on oxidative stress induced by ethanol in rat kidney 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 were used for estimating parameters evaluated. In ethanol group, it was observed significant changes in indices of oxidative stress compared to other groups (P<0.05). The indices of oxidative stress with pretreatment with ginger ameliorated significantly in ginger+ethanol group (P<0.05). It can be concluded that ginger extract has the protective effects against renotoxicity induced by ethanol in the male rat. The protective effect may be due to the presence of phytochemical components and other features that are unknown.
