ameliorating effect of zingiber officinale (ginger) hydroethanolic extract on scopolamine-induced memory impairment in adult male rats

background and aims: the spice zingiber officinale or ginger possesses antioxidant and neuroprotective effects. in this study we hypothesized that treatment with hydroethanolic extract of ginger (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg, p.o) would have an effect on the scopolamine-induced memory impairment in rats.methods: in this experimental study, 64 male wistar rats were divided into eight groups (8 rats in each group): normal saline, scopolamine (1 mg/kg), ginger extract (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg), or scopolamine (1 mg/kg) plus ginger extract (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg). memory impairment was induced with a single injection of scopolamine (1 mg/kg, i.p). cognitive functions were evaluated using passive avoidance learning (pal) task. retention test was carried out 24 hours after training, and the latency of entering the dark compartment [step-through latency (stl)] and the total time in the dark compartment (tdc) were recorded. all statistical analysis was carried out at 5% level of significance using spss version 21. the data were analyzed by anova followed by tukey’s test.results: the time latency in scopolamine-treated group was lower than control (p