BLACK SEED, NIGELLA SATIVA, DESERVES MORE ATTENTION

EDITORIAL




BLACK SEED, NIGELLA SATIVA, DESERVES MORE ATTENTION



Nigella sativa (N. sativa) seed, called as ‘Black Seed’ in English language, ‘Al-Habba Al-Sauda’ or ‘Al-

Habba Al-Barakah’ in Arabic and ‘Kalvanji’ in Urdu and some local languages in the Indian Sub-

continent, is well known in the Middle East, Middle Asia and Far East as a natural remedy for many

ailments and as a flavouring agent in bread and prickles. An authentic saying of the Prophet

Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) about black seed is also quoted in Al-Bukhari1:



‫ﻗﺎل رﺳﻮل اﷲ ﺻﻠﻰ اﷲ ﻋﻠﯿﮫ وﺳﻠﻢ )ﻋﻠﯿﻜﻢ ﺑﮭﺬه اﻟﺤﺒﺔ اﻟﺴﻮداء ﻓﺄن ﻓﯿﮭﺎ‬

‫ﺷﻔﺎء ﻣﻦ ﻛﻞ داء إﻻ اﻟﺴﺄم ( واﻟﺴﺄم ھﻮ اﻟﻤﻮت رواه أﺑﻮ ھﺮﯾﺮة رﺿﻰ‬

‫اﷲ ﻋﻨﮫ وأﺧﺮﺟﮫ اﻟﺒﺤﺎري‬

Abu Huraira (Allah be pleased from him) narrated that Allah’s Apostle (peace be upon him) said “Use the

black seed, which is a healing for all diseases except ‘As-Sam ” and As-Sam is Death.1



Unfortunately very few of us in the medical profession are aware of its medicinal properties

discovered by the modern scientific techniques. Advancements in the methods of analytical

chemistry, physiology, pharmacology and microbiology, etc have led to the discovery of many

active principles of the N. sativa like: Nigellicine, nigellidine, nigellimine-N-oxide, thymoquinone,

dithymoquinone, thymohydroquinone, nigellone, thymol, arvacrol, oxy-coumarin, 6-methoxy-

coumarin and 7-hydroxy-coumarin, alpha-hedrin, steryl-glucoside as well as rich amounts of flavinoids,

tannins, essential fatty acids, essential amino acids, scorbic acid, iron and calcium2–6; and a number of

pharmacological effects of profound therapeutic value, like: Analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-

histaminic, anti-allergic, anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, immune stimulation, anti-asthmatic, anti- hypertensive,

hypoglycemic, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-viral and anti-parasitic.7–25 Even in the veterinary medicine,

besides the beneficial effects of N. sativa seed and its oil in many infectious diseases; there are reports that

the addition of N. sativa seed cakes in the feed of buffalo and lambs improved their body weight and

reproductivity; and the addition of N. sativa seed in the food of broiler chicks improved their immunity and 

feed conversion efficacy26–29. The advent of HIV infection and induction of immune suppression e.g. for

organ transplants or by cancer chemotherapy increased the predisposition to invasive bacterial, viral and

fungal infections. Considering the scarcity of reports regarding the activity of N. sativa against fungi and the

growing need for the development of new anti fungal drugs, a few studies have been conducted at the King

Faisal University (KFU) Dammam Saudi Arabia for the antifungal effects of N. sativa. The ether extract of

N. sativa seed and its derivative, thymoquinone, were found to inhibit some opportunistic fungi: Aspergillus

niger, Fusarium solani and Scopulariopsis brevicaulis and many species of three important genera of

dermatophytes:

Trichophyton, Epidemophyton and Microsporum, isolated from the clinical cases.23,24,30 Similarly,

considering the development of resistance against the presently available antibiotics for Helicobacter pylori, a

clinical trial was conducted to investigate the activity of N. sativa seed for the eradication of H. pylori in

non-ulcer dyspeptic patients and found to possess anti-H. pylori activity comparable to the standard

triple therapy. These few reports are just for example, in fact there is a great potential in the N. sativa and its

active principles for the development of new anti-microbial drugs. Besides, anti-oxidant and anti-

cancer activities of N. sativa also need more attention. Although a lot of work has been done to

demonstrate these effects, a lot more is needed to develop new anti-cancer drugs from N. sativa.

Regarding the safety of N. sativa; its seed powder did not produce any toxic effects at very high

doses (28 gm/kg orally)31 in rabbits; its oil was also very safe when given orally to rats (LD50 of 28.8

ml/kg)32; and oral thymoquinone was also found to be quite safe (LD50 of 2.4 g/kg).33 However, there are

controversial reports for the LD50 of thymoquinone given intraperitoneally to rats/mice, varying from 10

mg/kg to 90.3 mg/kg.20,34 Lower intraperitoneal LD50 is probably due to local irritation caused by

thymoquinone. Because of this variation LD50 of thymoquinone given orally as well as intraperitoneally, both

in mice and rats, was determined at KFU, Dammam; which confirmed the safety of thymoquinone with an

oral LD50 of around 1000 mg/kg and intraperitoneal LD50 of around 100 mg/kg.35

Hundreds and thousands of research articles are available in the internet, published in the well known

international medical journals, regarding studies on the medicinal properties of N. sativa seed, its oil and

active principles. There are many web-sites for the promotion of the natural products from N. sativa: seed 

itself, capsules of seed powder, seed powder with tea; and its oil, cream, ointment and shampoo, etc. Once 

the awareness about the beneficial effects of N. sativa will increase that would draw the attention of the

agriculturists to grow N. sativa, pharmaceutical industry to prepare, compound and dispense its products and

the basic and clinical researchers to investigate more and more of its pharmacological effects and therapeutic

efficacy.



REFERENCES



1.



Al-Bukhari. MI. Division (71) on medicine. In Sahi Al-Bukhari,

the collection of authentic sayings of Prophet Mohammad (peace

be upon him). 2nd ed. Hilal Yayinlari, Ankara, Turkey, 1976.

Gad AM, El-Dakhakhany M, Hassan MM. Studies on the

chemical constitution of Egyptian Nigella sativa L oil. Planta

Med,1963;11(2):134–8.

Ata-ur-Rehman, Malik S, Ahmed S, Chaudhry I, Habib-ur-

Rehman. Nigellimine-N-Oxide, a new isoquinoline alkaloid

from seeds of Nigella sativa. Heterocycles, 1985;23:953–5.

Ata-ur-Rehman, Malik S, Cun-Hung H, Clardy J. Isolation and

structure determination of nigellicine, a novel alkaloid from seeds

of Nigella sativa. Tetrahedron Lett, 1985;26:2759–62.

Atta-ur-Rehman, Malik S. Nigellidine, a new indazole alkaloid

from seeds of Nigella sativa. J Res Iinst, 1995;36:1993–6.

Kumara SS, Huat BT. Extraction, isolation and characterization

of anti-tumour principle, alpha-hedrin, from the seeds of Nigella

sativa. Planta Med, 2001;67(1):29–32.

Houghton PJ, Zarka R, de las Heras B, Hoult JR. Fixed oil of

Nigella sativa and derived thymoquinone inhibit eicosanoid

generation in leukocytes and membrane lipid peroxidation. Planta

Med, 1995;61(1):33–6.

Mutabagani A, El-Mahdy SAM. A study of the anti-

inflammatory activity of Nigella sativa L. and thymoquinone.

Saudi Pharm J, 1997;5(2):110–3.

Al-Ghamdi MS. Anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anti-pyretic

activity of Nigella sativa. J Ethnopharmacol, 2001;76:45–8.

El-Kadi A, Kandil O. Effect of Nigella sativa (the black seed) on

immunity. Proceeding of the 4th International Conference on

Islamic Medicine, Kuwait. Bull Islamic Med, 1986;4:344–8.

Salomi MJ, Nair SC, Panikkar KR. Inhibitory effect of Nigella

sativa and Saffron (Crocus sativus) on chemical carcinogenesis

in mice. Nutr Cancer, 1991;16(1):67–72.

Badary OA, Gamal El-din AM. Inhibitory effect of

thymoquinone

against

20-methylchlolanthrene-induced

fibrosarcoma

tumorigenesis.

Cancer

Detect

Prev,

2001;25(4):362–8.

Badary OA, Nagi MN, Al-Shabanah OA, Al-Sawaf HA, Al-

Shaibani M, Al-Bekairi AM. Thymoquinone ameliorates the

nephrotoxicity induced by cisplatin in rodents and potenciates its

antitumor activity. Can J Physiol Pharmacol, 1997;75:1356–61.

Nagi MN, Alam K, Badary OA, al-Shabanah OA, al-Sawaf HA,

al-Bekairy AM. Thymoquinone protects against carbon

tetracholide hepatotoxicity in mice via an antioxidant

mechanism. Biochem Mol Biol Int, 1999;47(1):153–9.

Burits M, Bucar F. Antioxidant activity of Nigella sativa essential

oil. Phytother Res, 2000; 14 (5): 323-8.

Badar El-Din MK. Antiasthmatic activity of the active principle

of Nigella sativa “Nigellone”. Gazette Egypt Paediatr Assoc,

1960;8(4):864–7.

Al-Awadi FM, Gumma KA. Studies on the activity of individual

plants of an anti-diabetic plant mixture. Acta Diabetol Lat,

1987;24(1):37–41.

Eskander EF, Jun HW, Ibrahim KA, Abdelal WE. Hypoglycemic

effect of a herbal formulation in alloxan induced diabetic rats.

Egypt J Pharm Sci, 1995;36(1–6):253–70.

Bamosa AO, Ali BA, Sowayan SA. Effect of oral ingestion of

Nigella sativa seed on some blood parameters. Saudi Pharm J,

1997;5(2–3):126–9.

20. El-Dakhakhany M. Studies on the Egyptian Nigella sativa L:

Some pharmacological properties of its seed’s active principle in

comparison to its dihydro-compound and its polymer. Arzneim

Forsch Drug Res, 1965;15:1227–9.

21. Topozada HH, Masloum H, El-Dakhakhany M. The anti-

bacterial properties of Nigella sativa seeds: Active principle with

some clinical application. J Egypt Med Assoc,

1965;48(suppl):187–202.

22. Morsi NM. Antimicrobial effect of crude extracts of Nigella

sativa on multiple antibiotic resistant bacteria. Acta Microbiol

Pol, 2000;49(1):63–74.

23. Aljabre SHM, Randhawa MA, Akhtar A, Alakloby OM,

Alqurashi AM and Aldossary A.

Antidermatophyte

activity of ether extract of Nigella sativa and its active

principle, thymoquinone. Journal of Ethnopharmacology,

2005;101(1–3):116–9.

24. Randhawa MA, Alaklobi OM, Ajabre SHM, Alqurashi AM,

Akhtar N. Thymoquinone, an active principle of Nigella sativa,

inhibited Fusarium solani. Pak J Med Res, 2005;44(1):1–3.

25. Akhtar MS, Riffat S. Field trial of Saussurea lappa roots against

nematodes and Nigella sativa seeds against cestodes in children. J

Pakistan Med Assoc, 1991;41(8):185–7.

26. Ahmed IH, Awad MA, El-Mahdy M, Gohar HM, Ghanem AM.

The effect of some medicinal plant extracts on wound healing in

farm animals. Assiut Veterinary Medical Journal,

1995;32(64):236–44.

27. Youssef MM, Abdiene AM, Khattab RM, Darwish SA Effect of

feeding Nigella sativa cake on productive and reproductive

performance of buffalos. Egyptian Journal of Nutrition and

Feeds, 1998;1(2):73–85.

28. Gabr AA, El-Ayouty SA, Zaki AA, Abou Ammo FF, El-Gohary

ESI Productive performance of lambs fed with diets containing

Nigella sativa meal. Egyptian Journal of Nutrition and Feed,

1998;1(2):97–107.

29. Osman AMA, El-Barody MAA. Growth performance and

immune response of broiler chicks as affected by diet density and

Nigella sativa seed supplementation. Egyptian Poultry Science

Journal, 1999;19(3):619–34.

30. Aljabre SHM. In vitro antifungal activity of thymoqyuinone

against Scopulariopsis brevicaulis. Arab Journal of

Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2005;3:27–33.

31. Tissera MHA, Chandrika M, Serasinghe P, Tangavelu R.

Toxicity study of Kaluduru (oil of Nigella sativa). “Ayurveda

Sameeksha”, 1997, Department of Ayurveda, Sri Lanka.

32. Zaoui A, Cherrah Y, Mahassini N, Alaoui K, Amarouch H,

Hassar M. Acute and chronic toxicity of Nigella sativa fixed oil.

Phytomedicine, 2002;9:(1):69–74.

33. Badary OA, Al-ShabanaOA, Nagi MN, Al-Bekairi AM,

Elmazar MMA. Acute and subchronic toxicity of thymoquinone

in mice. Drug Development Research, 1998;44:56–61.

34. Mansour MA, Ginwai OT, El-Hadiya T, El-Khatib AS, Al-

Shabanah OA, Al-Sawaf HA. Effects of volatile oil constituents

of Nigella sativa on carbon tetrachloride-induced Hepatotoxicity

in mice: evidence for antioxidant effects of thymoquinone. Res

Commun Mol Pathol Pharmacol, 2001;110(3–4):239–51.

35. Al-Ali A, Alkhawajah AA, Randhawa MA, Shaikh NA. Oral and

intraperitoneal LD50 of thymoquinone, an active principle of

Nigella sativa, in mice and rats. J Ayub Med Coll,

2008;20(2):25–7.



19.



8.



9.



10.



11.



12.



13.



14.



15.



16.



17.



18.



Address for Correspondence:



Dr. Mohammad Akram Randhawa, Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, King Faisal University,

Dammam, KSA

Email: mrakramsa@yahoo.co.uk