Thymoquinone Is a Potent Superoxide Anion Scavenger
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- 1 January 2003
- journal article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Drug and Chemical Toxicology
- Vol. 26 (2), 87-98
- https://doi.org/10.1081/dct-120020404
Abstract
The antioxidant and pro-oxidant effects of thymoquinone (TQ), a natural main constituent of the volatile oil of Nigella sativa seeds, and a synthetic structurally-related tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), were examined in vitro. Both TQ and TBHQ efficiently inhibited iron-dependent microsomal lipid peroxidation in a concentration-dependent manner with median inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of 16.8 and 14.9 µM, respectively. TBHQ was stronger than TQ as a scavenger of 2,2′-diphenyl-p-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) (IC50 = 5 µM, 200 times more active than TQ) and as a scavenger of hydroxyl radical (OH•) with an IC50 of 4.6 µM (approximately 10 times more active than TQ). TQ was more active than TBHQ as a superoxide anion scavenger with IC50 of 3.35 µM compared to 18.1 µM for TBHQ. Only TBHQ significantly promoted DNA damage in the bleomycin-Fe(III) system. The results suggest that both TQ and TBHQ have strong antioxidant potentials through scavenging ability of different free radicals. Moreover, the data indicate that TQ is acting mainly as a potent superoxide anion scavenger.Keywords
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