No abstract

This review aims to gather and summarize up-to-date information on the potential health benefits of Nigella sativa (NS) on diabetes mellitus (DM) and its complications from different animal models, clinical trials and in vitro studies. DM is one of the most prevalent metabolic disorders resulting from chronic hyperglycaemia due to problems in insulin secretion, insulin action or both. It affects people regardless of age, gender and race. The main consequence of DM development is the metabolic dysregulation of glucose homeostasis. Current treatments for DM include pharmacological therapy, insulin and diabetic therapy targeting β cells. Some of these therapeutic approaches are promising; however, their safety and effectiveness remain elusive. Since ancient times, medicinal plants have been used and proven effective against diseases. These plants are believed to be effective and benefit physiological and pathological processes, as they can be used to prevent, reduce or treat multiple diseases. Nigella sativa Linn. is an annual indigenous herbaceous plant belonging to Ranunculaceae, the buttercup family. NS exhibits multifactorial activities; it could ameliorate oxidative, inflammatory, apoptotic and insulinotropic effects and inhibit carbohydrate digestive enzymes. Thus, this review demonstrates the therapeutic potential of NS that could be used as a complement or adjuvant for the management of DM and its complications. However, future research should be able to replicate and fill in the gaps of the study conducted to introduce NS safely to patients with DM.

Sepsis is one of the most important causes of maternal mortality. In our previous work, we established a polymicrobial sepsis (cecal ligation and puncture [CLP]) model in murine pregnancy and found that pregnant mice had a greater susceptibility to septic shock. In this model, mortality seemed to be associated with the development of early hemodynamic dysfunction and although circulating cytokine levels were similar, “off target” lung inflammatory cell numbers were greater in pregnant mice. Here, we have used the same CLP model to test the hypothesis that inhibiting the metabolism of the endogenous inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, asymmetric dimethylarginine would improve the outcome of sepsis in pregnancy. We used a dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 1-selective inhibitor (L-257), which reduces vascular nitric oxide synthesis without impairing immune cell function, in combination with a broad-spectrum antibiotic (Imipenem) and studied the outcome of septic shock in pregnant mice. Treatments were administered 3 h after CLP and samples were taken 3 h later. Both Imipenem and L-257 treatment alone slightly improved mortality rates from 13% (NaCl) to 20% (Imipenem) and 33% (L-257), whereas the combination of Imipenem and L-257 significantly improved survival to 50%. Imipenem and L-257 together prevented cardiovascular collapse and improved both organ function and bacterial killing, but did not reduce lung inflammatory cell numbers and actually increased lung cytokine levels. These data suggest that conventional management in combination with selective inhibition of DDAH1 may have therapeutic potential in the management of sepsis in pregnancy.