Thymoquinone Supplementation Prevents the Development of Gentamicin‐induced Acute Renal Toxicity in Rats

Abstract

1. The present study investigated the possible protective effects of thymoquinone (TQ), a compound derived from Nigella sativa with strong anti-oxidant properties, against gentamicin (GM)-induced nephrotoxicity. 2. A total of 40 adult male Wistar albino rats was divided into four groups. Rats in the first group were injected daily with normal saline (2.5 mL/kg, i.p.) for 8 consecutive days, whereas rats in the second group received TQ (50 mg/L in drinking water) for 8 consecutive days. Animals in the third group were injected daily with GM (80 mg/kg, i.p.) for 8 consecutive days, whereas animals in the fourth group received a combination of GM (80 mg/kg, i.p.) and TQ (50 mg/L in drinking water) for 8 consecutive days. 3. Gentamicin resulted in a significant increase in serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) and total nitrate/nitrite (NOx) and a significant decrease in reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT) and ATP levels in kidney tissues. 4. Interestingly, TQ supplementation resulted in a complete reversal of the GM-induced increase in BUN, creatinine, TBARS and NOx and decrease in GSH, GPx, CAT and ATP to control values. Moreover, histopathological examination of kidney tissues confirmed the biochemical data, wherein TQ supplementation prevents GM-induced degenerative changes in kidney tissues. 5. Data from the present study suggest that TQ supplementation prevents the development of GM-induced acute renal failure by a mechanism related, at least in part, to its ability to decrease oxidative stress and to preserve the activity of the anti-oxidant enzymes, as well as it ability to prevent the energy decline in kidney tissues.

Antidiabetic Properties of a Spice Plant Nigella sativa

“…The polymer is far less toxic but retains much of the pharmacologic properties of TQ, which is the active principle of the plant. The pharmacological actions of the seeds of Nigella sativa or its constituents that have been reported include protection against nephrotoxicity and hepatotoxicity induced by either disease or chemicals [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. The seeds/oil have anti-inflammatory [15], analgesic [4], antipyretic [16], spasmolytic [17], bronchodialator [17], antihistaminic [18], antihypertensive [19], antitumor [20], antioxidant [18], antineoplastic [9,21,22], antifertility [23], antibacterial [24], antifungal [25], antiprotozoal [26], anthelmintic [27] and insecticidal [28] activities.…”

“…N. sativa has been safely given to human patients in many other clinical trials, which were not aimed to asses its antidiabetic activity. In a clinical trial, oral intake of 100 and 200 mg of N. sativa extract twice a day by patients of mild hypertension, for 8 weeks, reduced both systolic and diastolic blood pressure; at the same time the extract caused a significant decline in the level of total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol [10]. In another clinical trial addition of NSO 2.5 ml twice daily to Atorvastatin 10 mg/day and Metformin 500 mg twice daily therapy resulted in significant improvement with reference to total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and fasting blood glucose [65].…”

An aminoglycoside antibiotic gentamycin induces oxidative stress, reduces antioxidant reserve and impairs spermatogenesis in rats

“…Nevertheless, GS induces acute renal failure, which is, in fact a dose-limiting effect of this drug, leading to increased morbidity and health care costs (Al-Majed et al, 2002;Sayed-Ahmed and Nagi, 2007). The acute renal failure is due to the induction of an oxidative stress-status in the kidney, in which case, reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species increase and antioxidants decrease with concomitant increase in lipid peroxidation and membrane damage, which would eventually end up in structural changes (Ramasammy and Kaloyanides, 1987;Walker et al, 1999).…”

“…The dose-levels and duration of treatment were similar to human exposure regimen (Reynolds, 1993) except the route of exposure. The i. p. route was selected to treat the animals based on previous studies (Sayed-Ahmed and Nagi, 2007;Ghosh and Dasgupta, 1999), since it is an accurate and simple procedure. One control group and one group each from two dose-levels were sacrificed by lethal ether anesthesia on day 1, and another control group and one group each from two dose-levels were sacrificed on day 35, after the last treatment.…”

A review on therapeutic potential of Nigella sativa: A miracle herb

“…TQ was found to prevent the degenerative changes in kidney tissues against GM induced nephrotoxicity. TQ supplementation resulted in a complete reversal of the GMinduced increase in serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, thibarbituric acid reactive substances, total nitrate/nitrite and decrease in GSH, glutathione peroxidase (GPx), CAT and ATP to control values suggesting that TQ prevents GM-induced degenerative changes in kidney tissues [93] . The protective effects of NSO in the prevention of chronic cyclosporine A (CsA) -induced nephrotoxicity in rats were investigated.…”