Coronary angiogenic effect of long-term administration of Nigella sativa

Lubna I. Al Asoom

Coronary angiogenesis is one of the preferable adaptive responses of aerobic training. Previous studies found inotropic and hypertrophic cardiac effects for long-term administration of Nigella sativa (NS), but no studies have explored its coronary angiogenic effect. The present study compared the effect of long-term NS- administration and exercise training on the induction of coronary angiogenesis. Fifteen adult male Wistar rats were divided into three groups: control, NS-fed, and exercise-trained (Ex). The NS-fed rats were administered 800 mg/Kg NS orally for eight weeks. The (Ex) rats were trained on a five-lane treadmill at a speed of 18 m/min and a grade of 32° for two hour/day for eight weeks. After the experiment, the hearts were extracted and immunohistological slides were prepared using rat vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1), Von Willebrand factor (VWF) and nitric oxide synthase-2 (NOS-2) antibodies (Ab). Photomicrographs were analysed using ImageJ software, and the % of the immunostained-area of 10 fields per specimen was recorded. VEGF was significantly higher in the NS- (2.59±1.37%) and Ex rats (2.51±1.86%) compared to the control group (1.58±0.78%) with P<0.01. The VWF was significantly lower in the two experimental groups (1.57±0.83%, 1.07±0.72%) for NS and Ex groups respectively, compared to the controls (2.38±1.72) with p<0.01. Only Ex group had a higher PECAM-1 (1.79±0.78%) and lower NOS-2 (0.83±0.57%) than the control group (1.19±1.17%, 1.25±1.19%) for PECAM-1 and NOS-2 with P<0.01 and P<0.05 respectively. The present study demonstrated an increase in VEGF and a decrease of the VWF in the hearts of Nigella-fed and exercise-trained rats. This might indicate the potentiality for induction of coronary angiogenesis via long-term administration of NS and exercise training. NS effect on coronary angiogenesis needs to be explored further as it might lead to a new promising preventive and therapeutic agent of the ischemic heart disease.