The role of oxygen radicals are known for the pathogenesis of kidney damage. The aim of the present study was to investigate the antioxidative effects of melatonin, quercetin, and resveratrol on streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic nephropathy in rats. A total of 35 male Wistar rats were divided into 5 groups as follows: control, diabetes mellitus (DM), DM + melatonin, DM + quercetin, and DM + resveratrol. All the injections started on the same day of single-dose STZ injection and continued for 30 days. At the end of this period, kidneys were removed and processed for routine histological procedures. Biochemical parameters and morphological changes were examined. In DM group, blood glucose levels were significantly increased, whereas body weights were decreased compared with the control group. Significant increases in blood urea nitrogen and tissue malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and decreases in superoxide dismutase and catalase activities were detected in DM group. Administration of melatonin, quercetin, and resveratrol significantly reduced these values. Melatonin was more efficient in reducing MDA levels than other antioxidants ( p < 0.05). STZ-induced histopathological alterations including epithelial desquamation, swelling, intracytoplasmic vacuolization, brush border loss and peritubular infiltration. Additionally, basement membrane thickening and sclerotic changes were observed in glomerulus. Transforming growth factor-β1 positive cells were also increased. Melatonin, quercetin, and resveratrol significantly reduced these histopathological changes. Our results indicate that melatonin, quercetin, and resveratrol might be helpful in reducing diabetes-induced renal damage

MTX-induced structural and functional damage to hepatic tissues in rats may involve oxidative stress, and cytoprotective agents (NAC > AMF > ASC) may alleviate MTX hepatotoxicity.

The reactive oxygen species take role in pathogenesis of many diseases including hypoxia, hypercholesterolemia, atherosclerosis, nephropathy, hypertension, ischemia–reperfusion damage, and heart defects. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether crocin administration could protect kidney injury from oxidative stress in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. The rats were randomly divided into 3 groups each containing 10 animals as follows: group 1, control group; group 2, diabetes mellitus (DM) group; and group 3, DM + crocin group. At the end of the study, trunk blood was collected to determine the plasma levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine (Cr). The kidney tissue was removed, and biochemical and histological changes were examined. Diabetes caused a significant increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) and xanthine oxidase (XO) activities and a decrease in glutathione (GSH) contents (  p < 0.01) when compared with control group in the rat kidneys. Crocin given to DM rats significantly decreased MDA (  p < 0.01) and XO (  p < 0.05) activities and elevated GSH (  p < 0.05) contents when compared with DM group. Plasma levels of BUN and Cr were significantly higher in the DM group when compared with the control group (  p < 0.01). Pretreatment of the DM animals with crocin decreased the high level of serum Cr and BUN. Control group was normal in histological appearance, but congestion, severe inflammation, tubular desquamation, tubular necrosis, and hydropic degeneration in tubular cells were observed in the DM group. Histopathological changes markedly reduced, and appearance of kidney was nearly similar to control group in DM + crocin group. Our results show that crocin could be beneficial in reducing diabetes-induced renal injury.

BACKGROUND: Cancer is a major public health problem in many areas of the world. Many anticancer drugs in current clinical use have been isolated from plant species or are based on such substances. Thymol (5-methyl-2-isopropylphenol) is an oxygenated aromatic compound from monoterpene group. It is the main constituent of thyme essential oil and shows antioxidant, antiseptic and antiproliferative properties. The aim of this study is to determine the antiproliferative activity and apoptotic effect of thymol on prostate cancer (PC-3, DU145), breast cancer (MDA-MB-231), and lung cancer (KLN205) cell lines. METHODS: The cancer cells were treated with different concentrations of thymol (100, 200, 400, 600, 800 μM) at 24 h, 48 h and 72 h. The cell viability was investigated by MTT assay and analysis of apoptosis was determined with annexin V assay. RESULTS: The study showed the dose and time-dependent cytotoxic effect of thymol in PC-3, DU145, MDA-MB-231, and KLN205 cancer cell lines. Thymol signifi cantly induced apoptosis in all groups in a dosedependent manner. Statistical analysis showed a signifi cant difference between thymol-treated cell lines compared to the control (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The data in the present study demonstrated that thymol has apoptotic and antiproliferative properties in lung, breast and prostate cancer cell lines. Thymol could serve as a potential therapeutic agent in the future (Fig. 5, Ref. 26).

In conclusion, we suggest that agents with antioxidant properties such as melatonin and quercetin may have positive effects in the treatment of pulmonary diseases characterized by especially edema, inflammation, and fibrosis.