Beneficial effects of thymoquinone and omega-3 on intestinal ischemia/reperfusion-induced renal dysfunction in rats

Intestinal ischemia–reperfusion (II/R) is a complex phenomenon causing local and remote tissue destruction and multiple-organ dysfunction. The technique has been used by many authors to produce certain organ dysfunctions. This study is to investigate the possible beneficial effects of thymoquinone and omega-3 separately in II/R-induced renal dysfunction in rats. Sixty-four Wistar albino rats were randomly allocated into four experimental groups namely sham control, II/R control, thymoquinone and omega-3 each group pre-treated separately. II/R model was established by clamping the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) for 30 min followed by 60 min reperfusion. Serum level of creatinine was measured. Renal tissue contents of malodialdehyde (MDA) and reduced glutathione (GSH) as well as myeloperoxidase (MPO), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were measured. Apoptosis in renal tissue cells was determined by immunohistochemical analysis of caspase-3. Renal histopathological examination was carried out. II/R elevated serum creatinine level. In-addition, renal tissue content of GSH and SOD activity were decreased. However renal tissue content of MDA and MPO activity were increased. Immunohistochemical analysis showed remarkable activation of caspase-3 in renal tissue. Histopathological examination revealed definite alterations after II/R. Pre-treatment with thymoquinone and omega-3 resulted in increased renal tissue content of GSH and SOD activity. The results revealed significant decrease in renal tissue content of MDA as well as MPO activity. Test drugs decreased the activity of caspase-3 through immunohistochemical examination. Thymoquinone and omega-3 corrected the reported histopathological changes induced by II/R. Depending on the obtained results in the present study it could be concluded that thymoquinone and omega-3 have beneficial effects on II/R-induced renal dysfunction in rats. The protective potential could be attributed to the antioxidant, antiapoptotic and anti-inflammatory effects of test drugs

Thymoquinone blocks lung injury and fibrosis by attenuating bleomycin-induced oxidative stress and activation of nuclear factor Kappa-B in rats

Pulmonary fibrosis is one of the most common chronic interstitial lung diseases with high mortality rate after diagnosis and limited successful treatment. The present study was designed to assess the potential antifibrotic effect of thymoquinone (TQ) and whether TQ can attenuate the severity of oxidative stress and inflammatory response during bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. Male Wister rats were treated intraperitoneally with either bleomycin (15 mg/kg, 3 times a week for 4 weeks) and/or thymoquinone (5 mg/kg/day, 1 week before and until the end of the experiment). Bleomycin significantly increased lung weight and the levels of Lactate dehydrogenase, total leucocytic count, total protein and mucin in bronchoalveolar lavage and these effects were significantly ameliorated by TQ treatment. As markers of oxidative stress, bleomycin caused a significant increase in the levels of lipid peroxides and nitric oxide accompanied with a significant decrease in the antioxidant enzyme activity of superoxide dismutase and glutathione transferase. TQ treatment restored these markers toward normal values. TQ also coun- teracted emphysema in air alveoli, inflammatory cell infiltration, lymphoid hyperplastic cells activation surrounding the bronchioles and the over expression of activated form of nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-B) in lung tissue that was induced by bleomycin. Fibrosis was assessed by measuring hydroxyproline content, which increased markedly in the bleomycin group and significantly reduced by concurrent treatment with TQ. Furthermore, histopathological examination confirmed the antifibrotic effect of TQ. Collectively these findings indicate that TQ has potential antifibrotic effect beside its antioxidant activity that could be through NF- B inhibition

Development of New Iso-Cytoplasmic Rice-Restorer Lines and New Rice Hybrids with Superior Grain Yield and Grain Quality Characteristics by Utilizing Restorers’ Fertility Genes

This research was carried out at the Experimental Farm of Sakha Agricultural Research Station, Sakha, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt, during the 2018–2020 rice-growing seasons to develop and evaluate four iso-cytoplasmic rice-restorer lines: NRL79, NRL80, NRL81, and NRL82, as well as Giza 178, with ten new hybrids in order to estimate genotypic coefficient, phenotypic coefficient, heritability in a broad sense, and advantage over Giza 178 as a check variety (control) of new restorer lines. This study also estimated combining ability, gene action, better-parent heterosis (BP), mid-parents heterosis (MP), and standard heterosis (SH) over Egyptian Hybrid one (IR69A × Giza 178) as a check hybrid (control) for grain yield, agronomic traits, and some grain quality characters in restorer lines and hybrids. The percentage of advantage over commercial-variety Giza 178 (check) was significant, and highly significant among the newly developed restorer fertility lines for all the studied traits. This indicates that the selection is a highly effective factor in improving these traits. New restorer fertility lines showed highly significant positive values over commercial restorer for grain yield; the values ranged from 51% for NRL80 to 100.4% for NRL82, respectively. Meanwhile, in regard to the grain shape of paddy rice, three lines of the promising lines showed highly significant negative desirable values compared with Giza 178; the values ranged from −7.7% for the NRL80 to −15.2% for NRL79, respectively. Based on the superiority of the new lines, the new lines can be used as new restorer fertility lines to breed promising new hybrids and new inbred rice lines or varieties. From the results of the testcross experiment, the four promising lines were identified as effective restorer fertility lines for two cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines. Moreover, the six rice hybrids showed values for SH heterosis of grain yield/plant of more than 15% over the check hybrid variety, with high values of 1000-grain weight and desirable grain shape; these hybrids were G46A × NRL81 (125.1%), G46A × NRL80 (66.9%), IR69A × NRL79 (47.2%), G46A × NRL79 (24.6%), IR69A × NRL81 (23.4%), and IR69A × NRL82 (16.2%)

Combining Ability and Gene Action Controlling Agronomic Traits for Cytoplasmic Male Sterile Line, Restorer Lines, and New Hybrids for Developing of New Drought-Tolerant Rice Hybrids

This study aimed to identify new rice lines and hybrids that are tolerant to water deficit and produce high yields under water stress conditions. A line × tester mating design was used to study the lines and testers’ general combining ability (GCA) effects. The specific combining ability (SCA) of the hybrid rice combinations was measured under three different irrigation regimes; 6, 9, and 12 days. The study was carried out at the experimental farm of Sakha Agricultural Research Station, Sakha, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt, during the 2018 and 2019 rice growing seasons. Due to the genotypes and their partitions to the parents and the crosses, the mean squares were highly significant for all studied traits under the three irrigation regimes. The additive gene effects play an important role in expressing most of the studied traits. Therefore, the selection procedures based on the accumulation of the additive effect would be successful at improving these traits and the grain yield. The cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) line G46A (L1) was the best combiner for most yield component traits in the three irrigation regimes. The newly devolved restorer lines T11, T1, T2, T5, T4, and T3, as well as the new hybrids L2 × T10, L2 × T6, L1 × T7, L1 × T5, L1 × T3, L2 × T7, L2 × T9, L2 × T8, L2 × T4, L1 × T4, L2 × T2, L1 × T8, L1 × T9, and L2 × NRL 10, showed good, desirable values of the studied traits such as earliness of flowering, short plant height, number of panicles/plant, panicle length, number of spikelets/panicle, number of filled grains/panicle, panicle weight, 1000-grain weight, hulling percentage, milling percentage, head rice percentage, and grain yield under the irrigation regimes of 6, 9, and 12 days. The hybrids L2 × T10, L2 × T6, L1 × T7, and L1 × T5, showed significant positive SCA effects for grain yield, under all three irrigation regimes