Nigella sativa oil protects against tartrazine toxicity in male rats

Toxicol Rep. 2017 Dec 28:5:146-155. doi: 10.1016/j.toxrep.2017.12.022. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the protective role of Nigella sativa oil against the adverse effects of tartrazine on male rats. 18 albino rats were divided randomly into four groups (n = 6). The first (G1) is the negative control, the second group (G2) is the positive control received 10 mg/kg b.w. tartrazine in the diet and the third (G3) received the same dose of tartrazine as in G2 and co-treated with Nigella sativa oil for 8 weeks. Tartrazine decreased total protein, antioxidants and high density lipoproteins, whereas increased liver enzyme, kidney function parameters, total cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoproteins and lipid peroxidation in the positive control group. In addition, it caused pathological changes in the tissues of liver, kidney, testes and stomach. Treating tartrazine supplemented rats of G3 with Nigella sativa oil for 8 weeks significantly improved all biochemical parameters and restored the tissues of kidney, stomach, testes and liver to normal. It could be concluded that N. sativa oil succeeded in protecting male rats against the adverse conditions resulted from tartrazine administration.

Keywords: ALP, serum alkaline phosphatase; ALT, serum alanine aminotransferase; AST, serum aspartate aminotransferase; B.W., body weight; BWG, body weight gain; FER, food efficiency ratio; Food additives; G1, the first negative control untreated group fed basal diet containing 3.75 mg/kg b.w. sulfanilic acid; G2, the second positive control group fed diets containing 10 mg/kg b.w. tartrazine and 3.75 mg/kg b.w. sulfanilic acid; G3, the third group (G3) received 10 mg/kg b.w. tartrazine and 3.75 mg/kg b.w. sulfanilic acid and cotreated with 10 ml/kg body weight Nigella sativa oil for 8 weeks; Honey; Kidney; LDL, low density lipoprotein; Liver; MDA, malondialdehyde; N.N cellulose, non-nutritive cellulose; Nigella sativa; Rat; TC, total cholesterol; TG, triglyceride; Tartrazine; VLDL, very low density lipoproteins.