The use of thymoquinone in nephrotoxicity related to acetaminophen

Abstract

Aim: We aimed to investigate efficacy of intraperitoneally administered Thymoquinone (TQ) in acetaminophen (APAP) induced renal toxicity.

Material and method: Forty Wistar Albino rats were randomly divided into 4 groups of ten rats each. Control group was untreated group while rats in TQ group were treated with single dose TQ. In APAP group rats were treated with single dose acetaminophen. In TQ + APAP group TQ and APAP were administered respectively. Rats were sacrificed at 24th hour; urea, creatinine and nitric oxide levels were measured also malondialdehyde activity were assessed in renal tissue specimens. Tissue damage scores were recorded in histopathological assessment.

Results: Urea and creatinine levels were found significantly higher in APAP group than control group (p < 0.003). Urea and creatinine levels in APAP + TQ treated group were significantly lower than APAP treated group (p < 0.01). Serum NO activity and tissue MDA levels were higher in APAP group than control group (p ≤ 0.002). In contrast to APAP treated group serum NO activity and tissue MDA levels were found significantly lower in TQ + APAP group (p ≤ 0.03). In APAP group significant histopathological change was found compared with control group (p ≤ 0.001) where there was no significant change between control and TQ treated groups (p > 0.05). In APAP group we found significantly higher tissue damage scores than control group (p ≤ 0.001). In APAP + TQ group lower tissue damage scores were found compared with APAP group (p ≤ 0.001) while higher scores were found compared with control group (p ≤ 0.001).

Conclusion: We can conclude that TQ treatment has therapeutical effect in APAP induced nephrotoxicity in rats.

Keywords: Acetaminophen; Nephrotoxicity; Thymoquinone.