zingiber officinale protective effects on gentamicin’s toxicity on sperm in rats

background: ginger rhizome (zingiber officinale r., family: zingiberaceae) is used medicinally and as a culinary spice and has anti-oxidant and cell-protective effects in animals and humans body. objective: the aim of this study was to investigate the influence of ginger rhizome toxicity of gentamicin on sperm parameters in male rats. methods: forty wistar male rat (n=40) were allocated into four groups, control (n=10) and test groups (n=30), that subdivided into groups of 3 that received ginger rhizome powder (100 mg/kg/day), gentamicin group that received, 5 mg/kg/day and ginger group that received, 5 mg/kg/day gentamicin additionally, for 30 consequence day. animals were kept in standard conditions. in thirty day the testes tissue of rats in whole groups were collected. results: ginger administration caused a marked increase in the testosterone concentrations of the rats even in spite of receiving 5 mg/kg/day gentamicin in compared with the control and gentamicin treated groups. conclusion: ginger rhizome is able to overcome reproductive toxicity of gentamicin and induces spermatogenesis probably mainly through the elevation of testosterone levels.