Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 2, 2025

Author Spotlight: Advancing Therapeutics to Treat Vibriosis in Humans and Aquatic Organisms
Published on: May 31, 2024
Potential food-drug interaction risk of thymoquinone with warfarin
Zhen Wang1, Zhe Wang1, Xiaoyu Wang1
1School of Life and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dalian University of Technology, Panjin, 124221, China.
Abstract:
Thymoquinone, predominant bioactive compound in Nigella sativa L. (N.sativa) oil, may inhibit the activity of cytochrome P450 2C9 (CYP2C9). However, it is not clear whether thymoquinone can affect the pharmacokinetic behavior of warfarin. Thus, we further to investigate the effect of thymoquinone on warfarin 7-hydroxylation activity and to quantitatively evaluate their food-drug interactions (FDIs) potential. Our data demonstrated that thymoquinone could inhibit warfarin 7-hydroxylase activity with IC50 value of 11.35 ± 0.25 μM. The kinetic analysis indicated that thymoquinone exhibited competitive inhibition on warfarin 7-hydroxylation with Ki value of 3.50 ± 0.44 μM. FDIs risk prediction suggested that coadministration of thymoquinone (>18 mg/day) or dietary supplements containing thymoquinone (N.sativa > 1 g/day or N. sativa oil >1 g/day) might influence pharmacokinetic behavior of warfarin. In conclusion, coadministration of thymoquinone or dietary supplements containing thymoquinone in warfarin-treated patients would likely trigger off unexpected potential drug interactions.
Related Concept Videos
Anticoagulant Drugs: Vitamin K Antagonists and Direct Oral Anticoagulants
Warfarin, a prominent vitamin K antagonist family member, exerts its effect by inhibiting the enzyme VKORC1 (vitamin K epoxide reductase complex 1). By hindering this enzyme, warfarin...
Therapeutic Index
Factors Affecting Protein-Drug Binding: Drug Interactions
Displacement interactions can have varying outcomes, ranging from toxicity to virtually...
Anticoagulant Drugs: Low-Molecular-Weight Heparins
Combined Effects of Drugs: Antagonism
The most common type is receptor antagonism, where one drug acts as an antagonist to block the effects of another drug by...
Protein-Drug Binding: Mechanism and Kinetics
Various forces drive these interactions, including hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic interactions, ionic bonds, electrostatic interactions, and van der Waals forces. These bonds enable drugs to bind to specific sites on proteins,...

