Background: Thymoquinone (TQ) is the active compound extracted from Nigella sativa which has been reported to possess various pharmacological attributes. This study shows that Thymoquinone (TQ) is an Alzheimer's disease (AD) model cell line on amyloid-beta (Aβ) -induced U87 (human astrocytoma cell line) in β-amyloid (Aβ)-induced in vitro Alzheimer's Disease (AD) model.
Aim: We aimed to investigate the effects on antioxidant and apoptotic pathways.
Methods: In the study three groups were formed, the control group, the Aβ group, and the Aβ+TQ group obtained by adding TQ to the Aβ group. Firstly, the cytotoxic potential of TQ in U87 cells was investigated by the colorimetric MTT (3-4,5-dimethyl-thiazolyl-2,5 diphenyltetrazolium bromide) test. To determine the antioxidant status in the cell line treated with Thymoquinone, to examine the effects of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities, on apoptosis Caspase-3 protein levels were measured by ELISA method.
Results: When compared to the control group, the SOD and CAT levels were significantly decreased in the U87 cell line exposed to Aβ; Caspase-3 levels were found to increase significantly. However, application of TQ to the Aβ-U87 cell line significantly increased SOD and CAT levels; it was found that it decreased the caspase-3 level.
Conclusion: In in vitro experiments, we determined that TQ has a protective effect by increasing antioxidant parameters in the amyloid beta-induced cell line (Fig. 4, Ref. 41). Text in PDF www.elis.sk Keywords: thymoquinone, amyloid-beta, U87, SOD, CAT, caspase-3.