• Nilgün Üstün, Mustafa Aras, Tumay Ozgur, Hamdullah Suphi Bayraktar, Fatih Sefil, Raif Ozden, and Abdullah Erman Yagiz.
• Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Mustafa Kemal University Faculty of Medicine, Hatay, Turkey. drnustun@yahoo.com.tr.
• Ulus Travma Acil Cer. 2014 Sep 1;20(5):328-32.

BackgroundSpinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the most devastating conditions leading to neurological impairment and disabilities. The aim of the study was to investigate the potential neuroprotective effect of thymoquinone (TQ) histopathologically in an experimental model of traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI).MethodsTwenty-four male Wistar albino rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: control group; SCI group; SCI-induced and 10 mg/kg/day TQ administered group; SCI-induced and 30 mg/kg/day TQ administered group. TQ was given as intraperitoneal for three days prior to injury and four days following injury. Spinal cord segment between T8 and T10 were taken for histopathologic examination. Hemorrhage, spongiosis and liquefactive necrosis were analyzed semiquantatively for histopathological changes.ResultsAdministration of TQ at a dose of 10 mg/kg did not cause any significant change on the histological features of neuronal degeneration as compared to the SCI group (p=0.269); however, 30 mg/kg TQ significantly decreased the histological features of spinal cord damage below that of the SCI group (p=0.011).ConclusionData from this study suggest that TQ supplementation attenuates trauma induced spinal cord damage. Thus, TQ needs to be taken into consideration, for it may have a neuroprotective effect in trauma induced spinal cord damage.

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