European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences

Abstract. – OBJECTIVE: Serious health prob-lems in humans are caused by arsenic (As) ex-posure, which is wide spread in the environ-ment. Sodium arsenite (SAs), capable of induc-ing macromolecular damage is evaluated for its damaging effect in the blood vessels, liver and kidneys of Wistar rats. This study was undertak-en to investigate the ameliorative effects of thy-moquinone on SAs-induced oxidative and in-flammatory damages in the serum of male Wis-tar rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Wistar Albino rats divided into three groups of nine rats each were administered to controls saline (10 mg/kg), SAs (10 mg/kg), and SAs plus thymoquinone (10 mg/kg/day) for two weeks orally. Biochemical tests were analyzed by a otoanalyzer; nitric ox-ide levels specthrophometrically, and cytokines were measured by ELISA method in the rat serum samples. RESULTS: Inflammatory cytokines and some biochemical variables were found to be in-creased in the SAs group compared to control group. On the other hand, thymoquinone su-pressed these laboratory signs, which are thought to be the characteristic signs of SAs toxicity, most probably by its ameliorative effects including anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. CONCLUSIONS: From the results obtained, thymoquinone mitigates SAs-induced adverse effects in the serum of rats, which suggest that it may attenuate inflammation implicated in en-dotelial dysfunction