Abstract
Nicotine (Nc) is a highly toxic chemical compound found in many plants such as tobacco. Exposure of living cells to nicotine is a reason in some biological effects like changes in the activity of antioxidant enzymes, the oxidative stress markers along with genes expression variations in kidney and liver tissues, DNA damaged and apoptosis. It is also known as a cancercausing agent. Pumpkin seed oil (PSO) is numerously studied and its health benefits are reported. PSO is rich in minerals and healthy fats that reflect its positive effects against oxidative stress and toxicity. Our experiments applied on mice which have been divided into four groups; control, fed with PSO (4 mL/Kg) for two weeks, exposure to nicotine (16 mg/Kg) for ten days and the last one treated with PSO for 5 days pre and along with nicotine -treatmentfor the next ten days. Data indicated the genotoxic and cytotoxic activity induced by nicotine in renal and hepatic tissues in vivo. Additionally, the protection and treatment properties of PSO on these tissues have observed. PSO increased intracellular glutathione and up -regulated the antioxidant genes expression like catalase (CAT), Glutathion peroxidase (GPx) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in liver and kidney. We can conclude that our results proved the safety and effectivity ofPSO in protect and treatment mice liver and kidney tissues against oxidative stress induced by nicotine.