Thymoquinone in a Rat Model of Mesenteric Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury

Aim: The objective of this study was to assess the protective efficacy of thymoquinone at low and high doses against ischemic reperfusion (I/R) injury resulting from superior mesenteric artery occlusion in rats. Materials and Methods: Thirty-five Wistar Albino rats were randomly divided into five groups: control, sham, two thymoquinone treatment groups (50 and 100 mg/kg), and a DMSO control. Intestinal injury was assessed using the Park/Chiu classification system. Blood samples were analyzed for liver enzymes (ALT, AST, ALP), kidney function markers (BUN), and other markers (LDH, phosphorus). Results: DMSO and low dose thymoquinone groups showed significantly better Park and Chiu scores (p values were 0.015 and p=0.016 respectively) High-dose thymoquinone and DMSO groups had significantly higher ALT levels than the control. Sham, low-dose thymoquinone, and DMSO groups had significantly higher AST levels than the control. Both low-dose and high-dose thymoquinone groups had significantly higher BUN levels than the control. Conclusion: Our study suggested that low-dose thymoquinone was more effective than high-dose thymoquinone in mitigating I/R-induced intestinal injury. High-dose thymoquinone appeared to have a detrimental effect on intestinal tissue, as evidenced by the lack of significant improvement in histopathological scores compared to the sham group. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that thymoquinone at low doses is more effective in I/R injury than at high doses. Pure DMSO and low dose thymoquinone groups showed a similar protective effect; however pure DMSO caused more deterioration in laboratory findings than low dose thymoquinone.