Department of Orthopedic Surgery, 25 Aralik State Hospital, Gaziantep 27090, Turkey.
Department of Physiology, Private Fizyoclinic Wellness Center, Gaziantep 27560, Turkey.
Medicina (Kaunas). 2023 Oct 6;59(10):1781. doi: 10.3390/medicina59101781.
: We aimed to investigate the therapeutic effects of thymoquinone (TMQ) treatment in osteonecrotic rats by evaluating protein levels, osteonecrosis (ON) levels, fatty acid degeneration, oxidative status, and plasma levels of Urotensin-II (U-II) and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β1). : 40 weight-matched adult male Wistar rats were grouped as control ( = 10), methylprednisolone acetate (MPA) ( = 10), thymoquinone (TMQ) ( = 10), and MPA + TMQ ( = 10). To induce ON, 15-week-old animals were subcutaneously injected with MPA at a dose of 15 mg/kg twice weekly for 2 weeks. TMQ was injected into 15-week-old rats via gastric gavage at a dose of 80 mg/kg per day for 4 weeks. The rats in the MPA + TMQ group were administered TMQ 2 weeks before the MPA injection. At the end of the treatments, cardiac blood samples and femur samples were collected for biochemical and histological evaluations. : In the control and TMQ groups, no ON pattern was observed. However, in tissues exposed to MPA, TMQ treatment resulted in significantly decreased ON levels compared to the MPA group. The number of cells that were positive for 8-OHdG and 4-HNE was significantly lower in the MPA + TMQ group than in the MPA group ( < 0.05). In terms of TGF-β1 and U-II levels, we observed that both TGF-β1 (367.40 ± 23.01 pg/mL vs. 248.9 ± 20.12 pg/mL) and U-II protein levels (259.5 ± 6.0 ng/mL vs. 168.20 ± 7.90 ng/mL) increased significantly in the MPA group compared to the control group ( < 0.001). Furthermore, TGF-β1 (293.50 ± 14.18 pg/mL) and U-II (174.80 ± 4.2 ng/mL) protein levels were significantly decreased in the MPA + TMQ group compared to the MPA group ( < 0.05 and < 0.01, respectively). There was a statistically positive correlation ( < 0.05) between the TGF-β1 and U-II protein levels in all groups ( = 0.002, r = 0.890; = 0.02, r = 0.861; = 0.024, r = 0.868) except for the MPA group ( < 0.03, r = -0.870). : As far as we know, this is the first study to demonstrate the curative functions of TMQ on ON by causing a correlated decrease in the expression of U-II and TGF-β1 in the femoral heads of rats.
我们旨在通过评估蛋白水平、骨坏死（ON）水平、脂肪酸变性、氧化状态以及尿促素-II（U-II）和转化生长因子-β1（TGF-β1）的血浆水平，来研究姜黄素（TMQ）治疗骨坏死大鼠的治疗效果。
40 只体重匹配的成年雄性 Wistar 大鼠被分为对照组（n=10）、甲泼尼龙醋酸酯（MPA）组（n=10）、姜黄素（TMQ）组（n=10）和 MPA+TMQ 组（n=10）。为了诱导骨坏死，15 周龄的动物每周两次皮下注射 MPA，剂量为 15mg/kg，持续 2 周。TMQ 通过胃管给予 15 周龄大鼠，剂量为 80mg/kg/天，持续 4 周。MPA+TMQ 组的大鼠在 MPA 注射前 2 周给予 TMQ。治疗结束时，采集心脏血样和股骨样本进行生化和组织学评估。
在对照组和 TMQ 组中，未观察到骨坏死模式。然而，在暴露于 MPA 的组织中，与 MPA 组相比，TMQ 治疗导致骨坏死水平显著降低。MPA+TMQ 组中 8-OHdG 和 4-HNE 阳性细胞的数量明显低于 MPA 组（<0.05）。就 TGF-β1 和 U-II 水平而言，我们观察到 TGF-β1（367.40±23.01pg/mL 与 248.9±20.12pg/mL）和 U-II 蛋白水平（259.5±6.0ng/mL 与 168.20±7.90ng/mL）在 MPA 组中均显著高于对照组（<0.001）。此外，与 MPA 组相比，MPA+TMQ 组的 TGF-β1（293.50±14.18pg/mL）和 U-II（174.80±4.2ng/mL）蛋白水平显著降低（<0.05 和<0.01）。除 MPA 组外（<0.03，r=-0.870），所有组中 TGF-β1 和 U-II 蛋白水平之间均存在统计学正相关（<0.05）（=0.002，r=0.890；=0.02，r=0.861；=0.024，r=0.868）。
据我们所知，这是第一项研究，通过在大鼠股骨头中导致 U-II 和 TGF-β1 表达的相关性降低，证明 TMQ 对骨坏死具有治疗作用。
