Experimental study reveals thymoquinone and melatonin preserve liver sodium-potassium pump activity in irradiated rats, highlighting their potential as radioprotective agents.
Key Points
To evaluate the potential radioprotective effects of melatonin, amifostine, and thymoquinone against radiation-induced liver injury by measuring hepatic Na+/K+-ATPase enzyme activity in rats.
Assigned 38 adult rats to 5 groups: total body irradiation (IR) only (6 Gy), IR plus melatonin (10 mg/kg), IR plus thymoquinone (10 mg/kg), IR plus amifostine (200 mg/kg), and sham control.
Administered all compounds via intraperitoneal injection 30 minutes before 6 Gy total body irradiation, harvesting liver tissue 90 minutes post-irradiation to determine Na+/K+-ATPase activity.
Total body irradiation significantly reduced liver Na+/K+-ATPase activity compared to the sham control group (p=0.027).
Thymoquinone pretreatment significantly increased Na+/K+-ATPase activity compared to the IR-only group (p=0.013), while melatonin showed higher activity that approached significance (p=0.087).
Amifostine administration resulted in an increase in enzyme activity compared to the IR-only group that was not statistically significant (p=0.524).