Histological, ultrastructural and immunohistochemical studies on the protective effect of ginger extract against cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in male rats

Cisplatin (CP) is a widely used anticancer drug; however, it has several side effects such as nephrotoxicity. Ginger, the rhizome of Zingiber officinale, consumed since ancient times has numerous health benefits. The objective of this work was to evaluate the protective effect of ginger extract (GE) against CP-induced nephrotoxicity. CP group displayed a marked renal failure characterized by a significant increase in serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels in addition to severe histopathological and ultrastructural renal alterations. Also, CP group showed an increase in the immunohistochemical expression of Bax proapoptotic protein. In contrast, GE+CP group showed significant decrease in the elevated serum creatinine and BUN levels and an improvement in the histopathological and ultrastructural renal injury induced by CP. The overexpression of Bax proapoptotic protein was significantly decreased in the GE+CP group. Hence, the present results indicated that GE has a protective effect against CP-induced renal damage in rats. Thereby, such findings recommended the usage of GE to prevent and/or decrease the renal damage induced by CP chemotherapeutic treatment.