| Summary: | Background: Nigella Sativa (NS) induced vasorelaxation of aortic rings upon direct exposure has been documented in literature. This study was conducted to determine whether 8 weeks Nigella Sativa supplementation and/or exercise training may alter vascular sensitivity of rat aorta in normal, healthy rats.
Methods: In this Quasi Experimental Study, forty adult male Wistar albino rats were divided equally into 4 groups. One group served as the control (C), whereas the other three groups were Nigella-treated (N; 800 mg/kg Nigella daily orally via a feeding needle), Exercise-trained (Ex: 18 m/min speed, 2 h duration/day at 32 inclination) and Nigella-treated-exercise-trained (N-Ex: received both Nigella and exercise training). After 8 weeks, rats in all four groups were sacrificed. Their aortic rings were2 mounted in the organ bath. Tension in the aortic rings was measured with an isometric force transducer and recorded with a PowerLab data-acquisition system. Norepinephrine-induced aortic contractions in all four groups were compared by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Results: There were statistically insignificant differences in Norepinephrine-induced aortic contractions among all four groups (P value 0.26, 0.18, 0.07, 0.12, 0.58, 0.24, 0.06 with Norepinephrine 0, 10−7, 10−6, 10−5, 10−4, 10−3, 10−2 respectively). Also, no statistical difference was observed in term of body weight, heart weight, left ventricular weight and their indices in all four groups.
Conclusion: NS supplementation and exercise training alone or in combination; for 8 weeks’ duration, may not alter vascular reactivity in normal healthy rats.
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