Objective: Medicaments used in the therapy of GIS diseases have many detrimental impacts. Therefore, antioxidant effective molecules can help in the treatment process. This study aimed to examine the oxidant and antioxidant activity of thymoquinone (TQ) and citalopram in gastric and duodenum tissues of reserpinized rats.
Materials and Methods: In the study, we split the rats in six groups of six rats each: 1) Control (C) 1; 2) Control (C) 2; 3) reserpine (R); 4) Reserpine+citalopram (R+C); 5) Reserpine+thymoquinone (R+T); 6) Reserpine+citalopram+thymoquinone (R+C+T). Reserpine (0.2 mg/kg) was intraperitoneally administered. TQ (10 mg/kg) and citalopram (10 mg/kg) were intragastrically administered 30 min before reserpine injection. The rats were treated for 14 consecutive days. At the end of the experiment, we examined total antioxidant status and total oxidant status in gastric tissue; and total nitric oxide, malondialdehyde, and glutathione levels in duodenum tissue.
Results: There was a reduction on total oxidant status in gastric tissue in the R+C group in comparison with the R group (p<0.01). The decrease in total oxidant status in the R+C+T and R+T groups was more significant (p<0.01). An increase in total antioxidant status was observed in the R+C, R+T, and R+C+T groups when compared to the R group (p<0.01). In comparison to the R group, there was a reduction in malondialdehyde and nitric oxide levels and a rise in glutathione level in duodenum tissue in the R+C+T and R+T groups (p<0.01).
Conclusion: Reserpine increased oxidative stress and decreased antioxidant capacity in gastric and duodenum tissues. TQ and citalopram+TQ treatment decreased oxidative stress and increased antioxidant capacity in gastric and duodenum tissues. TQ and citalopram+TQ treatments proved to be more effective in protection from oxidative stress caused by reserpine in gastric and duodenum tissues than citalopram treatment.