Heavy metal toxicity and bioaccumulation caused severe damage to soil, water and environment as a result of industrialization/urbanization activities in developing and developed countries. This damage has affected different trophic levels including plants, animals and humans and has become a global concern. The use of various phytonutrients such as Quercetin (QE) has increased in recent years to avoid toxicity caused by heavy metals. Among different heavy metals, cadmium (Cd) toxicity is a major issue in the countries. Cd is a toxic heavy metal that can damage the kidneys and cause dysregulation in many lipid metabolic pathways. However, the number of studies on renal dysfunction and dyslipidemia caused by Cd is limited. We found that Cd causes renal dysfunction and dyslipidemia, and QE ameliorates these Cd-induced damages. Our results showed that Cd increased urea, uric acid, creatnine, alkene phosphatase (ALP), total bilirubin (TBIL) levels compared to the control group, while QE improved other parameters except TBIL. In addition, our findings showed that Cd increased total glyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels and decreased high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels. It was noted that QE tended to improve this dyslipidemia picture. The data presented here demonstrated that QE has a clear protective role against dyslipidemia and renal function against Cd toxicity through its hypolipidemic and antioxidative action.

This study was designed to investigate the possible protective efficacy of Nigella sativa essential oil against acrylamide induced liver toxicity. Four groups of 32 male Wistar albino rats were formed. Control group was used as a control. acrylamide was administered to the rats in Group AA by gavage at a daily dose of 40 mg/kg. 10mg/kg dose of Nigella sativa essential oil was administered intraperitoneally to the rats in Group NS. In Group AA+NS, daily acrylamide and Nigella sativa essential oil applications were carried out simultaneously as mentioned above. The trial period lasted 15 days. While acrylamide increased malondialdehyde levels in liver tissue, it decreased glutathione and superoxide dismutase levels. In addition, liver pro-inflammatory cytokine levels increased due to acrylamide administration, while anti-inflammatory cytokine levels decreased due to acrylamide administration.: Concomitant administration of Nigella sativa essential oil with acrylamide significantly reduced oxidative stress and inflammation in liver tissues. In conclusion, our findings emphasized that Nigella sativa essential oil has a potential therapeutic role to prevent acrylamide-induced hepatotoxicity.

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of regular treadmill exercise on some blood parameters in rats with experimental diabetes model. In the study, 36 Wistar Albino rats were divided into 4 groups as Control (C), Exercise (E), Diabetes (D) and Diabetes+Exercise (DE). A single dose of 60 mg/kg STZ solution was injected intraperitoneally (i.p) into the D and DE groups to create a diabetes model. After diabetes induction, E and DE groups were given running exercise at 20 m/min and 45 minutes daily for 4 weeks. According to the data obtained; while lipid profile (TC, LDL, TG) and liver enzyme (ALT, AST) levels increased significantly in group D compared to group C, HDL and TP levels were found to decrease. However, a decrease was observed in parameters other than HDL and TP in the DE group. It was also observed that the mineral and vitamin (Vit D, Ca, Mg and Zn) levels decreased in the D group compared to the C group, while these values tended to increase in the DE group. As a result, the experiment shows that a 4-week regular exercise program in rats with diabetes has a therapeutic, preventive and protective effect on lipoprotein levels, liver enzyme markers and micronutrient levels.