Therapeutic Implications of Thymoquinone in the Management of Diabetes mellitus and its Complications

Background: Hyperglycemia leads to development of complications associated with diabetes via oxidative stress. Thymoquinone (TQ), derived from Nigella sativa seed, has an antioxidant activity. The present study investigated the attenuation of some diabetes complications by TQ in rats.
Main methods: Male albino rats were assigned to three groups of ten animals each: group I, control; group II, streptozotocin (STZ) group and group-III, diabetic rats treated with TQ (40mg/Kg bw) through gastric tube for three weeks. Blood and tissue samples were collected for measurement of oxidative stress biomarkers, inflammatory markers, lipid profile, blood cells count, kidney and liver function tests. Results: Findings of this study showed that WBC (White blood cell) count, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), urea, creatinine, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α,), interleukin 6 (IL6) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were significantly decreased in the TQ treated diabetic animals as compared to diabetic control group. On the other hand, TQ administered to diabetic rats led to significant increase in high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), total protein, glutathione reduced form (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), adiponectin, hemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV) as compared to diabetic control rats.
Conclusion: TQ significantly improved antioxidant status and reduced lipid peroxidation in blood, liver, pancreas and kidney tissues of diabetic treated rats through its anti-inflammatory, antioxidative and antiperoxidative properties.

Author(s): Samir A.E. Bashandy, Gehad A Abdel Jaleel, Heba M.I. Abdallah and Sahar E.S. Harraz

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