ANTICOAGULANT AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF THYMUS VULGARIS IN DEXAMETHASONE TREATED FEMALE ADULT RAT

Abstract

This experiment aimed to investigate the anticoagulant and anti-oxidant activities of Thymus vulgaris (T.vulgaris) in hyper coagulation induced by long time Dexamethasone administration. Twenty four adult female rats divided into 4 groups; 1st Control group, 2nd and 3rd groups had subcutaneous injection with Dex 0.1mg/kg 3 times/week for 60 days, then 3rd and 4th groups received 75 mg/kg of T.vulgaris orally for two weeks. At the end of the experiment blood samples were collected via heart puncture from anesthetized rats. Results revealed that dexamethasone for 74 days caused significant (p<0.05) reduction in bleeding time, APTT and PT and increase in MDA and decrease in GSH and catalase enzyme. However treatment with T.vulgaris improve theses markers and elevated them to semi normal. Platelet count were elevated by dexamethasone and reduced by T.vulgaris. Liver function tests showed significant elevation in AST and reduction of total protein in Dexa groups. While decrease in T.vulgaris group. In conclusion, the anticoagulant activity of T.vulgaris against hypercoagultion induced by Dex mayight be through inhibition of intrinsic and extrinsic pathway as indicating PT and APTT tests for coagulation.