Protective Effect of Nigella Sativa on Renal Reperfusion Injury in Rat

This study was designed to investigate the effect of Nigella sativa (NS), in reperfusion-induced renal injury in rats.

A total of 24 male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 3 groups of controls and rats that underwent ischemia-reperfusion with and without pretreatment with NS. A rat model of renal reperfusion injury was induced by 45-minute occlusion of the bilateral renal pedicles and 24-hour reperfusion. In the NS group, a single dose NS (400 mg/kg orally) was administered by gastric gavage.

Renal reperfusion caused severe histopathological injury such as tubular damage, atrophy dilatation, loss of brush border, and hydropic epithelial cell degenerations. Treatment with NS significantly attenuated the severity of reperfusion injury and significantly lowered tubulointerstitial damage score as compared with the reperfusion group. When kidney sections were stained with anti-proliferating-cell nuclear antigen antibody, nuclear factor kappaB p65 antibody, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling, there was a clear increase in the number of positive cells in the reperfusion group in the renal cortical tissues. However, there was a significant reduction in the number of stain-positive cells in kidney tissue from the NS group. Treatment of renal reperfusion injury with NS decreased the elevated tissue malondialdehyde levels and increased the reduced activities of the enzymatic antioxidants glutathione peroxidase and catalase.

Pretreatment with NS has a protective effect against renal damage induced by renal reperfusion. This protective effect is possibly due to its ability to inhibit reperfusion-induced renal damage, apoptosis, and cell proliferation.