Abstract:

Objective To probe into the efficacy of thymoquinone in the treatment of cerebral small vessel disease（CSVD）by investigating the effect of thymoquinone on oxidative stress in CSVD mice and exploring the mechanism of thymoquinone in the treatment of CSVD. Methods Thirty SHRsp rats were equally divided into model group，low⁃dose and high⁃dose thymoquinone group at random，and 10 SD rats were used as control group. Morris water maze test and new object recognition test were used to detect the cognitive function of the rats，and determine such oxidative stress related indicators in the rat brain assuperoxide dismutase（SOD），catalase（CAT）， and glutathione（GSH），malondialdehyde（MDA），and reactive oxygen species（ROS）. Results Compared with the model group，the escape latencies of the low and high dose thymoquinone groups were significantly shortened （P < 0.05），the target quadrant staysweresignificantly lengthened（P < 0.05），the frequencies forcrossing the original platform quadrant were significantly increased（P < 0.05），the time to explore new objects was significantly increased（P < 0.05），and the ability to distinguish between new and old objects was significantly increased（P < 0.01）. In addition，the activities of SOD and CAT were both increased（P < 0.05），the content of GSH increased （P < 0.01），and the levers of MDA and ROS decreased as well（P < 0.05）. Conclusion Thymoquinone can effec⁃ tively improve the cognitive impairment related to cerebral small vessel disease，which is related to its inhibition to oxidative stress. 

Key words:

thymoquinone, cerebral smallvesseldisease, cognitive function, oxidative stress