Preventive effect of on M1/M2 ratio, reducing risk of endothelial dysfunction in cigarette smoked Wistars.

Smoking is one of the top three causes of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Natural antioxidants including black cumin ( may inhibit the pathogenesis of initial process of atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of black cumin in preventing endothelial dysfunction mainly through macrophage M1/M2 inflammatory response in cigarette smoked male Wistars. In total, 50 Wistar rats were randomly allocated to five experimental groups: two control groups, namely no intervention (K-) and exposure to smoke of 40 cigarettes each day (K+); and three treatment groups: rats given a dose of 0.3 g (P1), 0.6 g (P2) or 1.2 g (P3) black cumin per kilograms bodyweight/ day, respectively, and exposed to smoke of 40 cigarettes each day. After 28 days of cigarette smoke exposure, macrophage M1/M2 ratio was evaluated by counting total M1 and M2 in ten microscope field of view. Data were analysed by Mann-Whitney test. The M1 / ​​M2 ratio on K (-) was 0.9 7 ± 0.9 8 (<1) which means M2 was dominant, while the M1 / ​​M2 ratio on K (+) was of 4.97 ± 3.42 (> 1) which means M1 dominant. There was no significant difference in the number of M1 count in treatment groups P1, P2, P3 (p value = 0.996; 0.170; 0.884, respectively) when compared with K+. Additionally, P2 group has the lower M1 number with the highest significance value when compared to K+. The number of M1 counts on P1 did not differ significantly when compared to P2 with p = 0.121 and P3 with p = 0.936. In sum, ethanol extract of black cumin prevents endothelial dysfunction by inhibiting increase in macrophages M1 / M2 ratio in rats  exposed to sub-chronic cigarette smoke.