Neuropharmacological Potential and Delivery Prospects of Thymoquinone for Neurological Disorders

Abstract

Thymoquinone (TQ) is an active ingredient isolated from Nigella sativa and has various pharmacological activities, such as protection against oxidative stress, inflammation, and infections. In addition, it might be a potential neuropharmacological agent because it exhibits versatile potential for attenuating neurological impairments. It features greater beneficial effects in toxin-induced neuroinflammation and neurotoxicity. In various models of neurological disorders, it demonstrates emergent functions, including safeguarding various neurodegenerative diseases and other neurological diseases, such as stroke, schizophrenia, and epilepsy. TQ also has potential effects in trauma mediating and chemical-, radiation-, and drug-induced central nervous system injuries. Considering the pharmacokinetic limitations, research has concentrated on different TQ novel formulations and delivery systems. Here, we visualize the neuropharmacological potential, challenges, and delivery prospects of TQ, specifically focusing on neurological disorders along with its chemistry, pharmacokinetics, and toxicity.

Biological efficacy of zinc oxide nanoparticles against diabetes: a preliminary study conducted in mice

“…The use of natural products could be the potential to encounter the limitations of DM treatment [2,14,15]. To overcome the pharmacokinetic limitations of drugs, the novel drug delivery system has considered as an attractive option to deliver the drugs for treating several diseases and disorders [2,[16][17][18]. The loading of insulin, and other sugar-lowering drugs and nutraceuticals, into nanoparticles, has been proposed as a more convenient, non-invasive and safer approach through alternative administration routes [2].…”

Non-Lamellar Liquid Crystalline Nanocarriers for Thymoquinone Encapsulation

“…Despite its broad therapeutic potentials, there are major concerns and limitations (including low solubility in water, poor bioavailability, poor membrane penetration capacity, and lack of mechanistic understanding of the drug action) hindering the translational development of TQ-based formulations [4,5,9,10]. Overcoming these limitations might be achieved through the rational design of nanoparticulate formulations for TQ delivery [4,8,11,[15][16][17][18]. Taking into account the current interest in the development of nanocarriers for delivering TQ and other phytochemicals [8][9][10][11][15][16][17][18][19][20][21], here we focus on non-lamellar liquid crystalline nanoparticles enveloping a biphasic feature of inverse discontinuous cubic (I 2 ) phase of the symmetry Fd3m phase coexisting with an inverse hexagonal (H 2 ) phase for TQ encapsulation.…”

“…Overcoming these limitations might be achieved through the rational design of nanoparticulate formulations for TQ delivery [4,8,11,[15][16][17][18]. Taking into account the current interest in the development of nanocarriers for delivering TQ and other phytochemicals [8][9][10][11][15][16][17][18][19][20][21], here we focus on non-lamellar liquid crystalline nanoparticles enveloping a biphasic feature of inverse discontinuous cubic (I 2 ) phase of the symmetry Fd3m phase coexisting with an inverse hexagonal (H 2 ) phase for TQ encapsulation. The unique structural properties of these nano-self-assemblies and their analogues [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] render them particularly attractive for enhancing the solubilization capacity of poorly water-soluble drugs and improving their delivery through different routes of administration [23,26,27,29,36].…”

Thymoquinone‐induced antitumor and apoptosis in human lung adenocarcinoma cells

“…Thymoquinone (TQ) is the main constituent of Nigella sativa (N. sativa) seeds with established medicinal, phytochemical, and pharmacological properties (Kus et al, 2018). In traditional medicine, N. Sativa, as a natural spice, had been used to promote general health in Europe, Middle-East, and India (Asaduzzaman Khan, Tania, Fu, & Fu, 2017;Ballout, Habli, Rahal, Fatfat, & Gali-Muhtasib, 2018;Farkhondeh, Samarghandian, Hozeifi, & Azimi-Nezhad, 2017;Jakaria et al, 2018;Mostofa, Hossain, Basak, & Bin Sayeed, 2017;Shafi et al, 2009). There are several published papers on N. Sativa both for phytochemical and pharmacological properties (Al-Majed, Al-Omar, & Nagi, 2006;Arshad Malik, Al Jaouni, Harakeh, & Arshad Malik, 2016;Eid, Elmarzugi, Abu Ayyash, Sawafta, & Daana, 2017;Majdalawieh & Fayyad, 2015;Qidwai & Ashfaq, 2014).…”