In Vivo Anti-malarial Tests of Nigella sativa (Black Seed) Different Extracts

Nigella sativa (black seed) seeds have been used as a traditional medicine for the treatment of a variety of sicknesses including parasitic diseases. Intraperitoneal and oral administrations of ethanol, chloroform and aqueous seed extracts (50, 100, 200 and 400 µL kg^-1) of N. sativa, were screened in the 4-day suppressive assays for their anti-malarial properties against Plasmodium berghei in mice. Both intraperitoneal and oral treatments of the seeds extracts showed suppression activities in all groups of mice with the highest values were noted by the 100 and 200 µL kg^-1 doses of the ethanol extract and by the 100 µL kg^-1 dose of the chloroform extract which significantly (p<0.05) decreased the parasitaemias and increased the survival times of the infected mice. On the other hand, the aqueous extract showed a dose-dependent suppression activity by which the 200 and 400 µL kg^-1 extracts doses showed significant degrees of suppression activities in the infected mice. The results of this study confirm the usage of this plant in the Middle East folk medicine as parasitic remedy and open a new opportunity to further investigate the potentials of new plant-based antimalarials in the future. However, the active responsible principles are yet to be identified, which need further studies to elucidate the anti-malarial mechanism of their action.