Effect of ginger on gabapentin-induced morphological and skeletal abnormalities in the chick Gallus domestics

Epilepsy is associated with an increased risk of having malformed children.Gabapentin (GBP) is a new generation antiepileptic drug and categorized as ‘C’considering its possible teratogenic risk. The present study adopted two integrated aspects.The first has dealt with investigating the possible toxic side effects of GBP on thedeveloping chick embryos in terms of morphological and endo-skeletal studies. The secondexamined the possible ameliorative effect of ginger water extract against the toxicityinduced by GBP injection. Injection of GBP resulted in adverse effects in chick embryosat different levels. Morphologically, the chick embryos suffered from significant growthretardation and various morphological malformations such as omphalocele, limbdeformities, short beak and subcutaneous hemorrhage. The endoskeleton showed differentalterations including kyphosis, caudal regression syndrome kinked tail and pygostyle, lossof some bone. In addition, there was reduction in the ossification centers of long bones.Co-injection of ginger along with GBP decreased the incidence of most morphological andendo-sk0eletal alterations, furthermore, increased the length of ossification centers in longbones compared with GBP alone. In conclusion, the use of GBP as an AED should betreated with highly caution during pregnancy and ginger is recommended to be taken inparallel for its ameliorative role in this regard.