Nigella sativa L. and black seeds are traditionally used for cooking and medicinal purposes in Arab and other countries. Although N. sativa seed extract has many known biological effects, the biological effects of cold-pressed N. sativa oil are poorly understood. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the gastroprotective effects and subacute oral toxicity of black seed oil (BSO) in an animal model. The gastroprotective effects of oral BSO (50% and 100%; 1 mg/kg) were tested using acute experimental models of ethanol-induced gastric ulcers. Gross and histological gastric lesions, ulcerated gastric areas, ulcer index score, percentage of inhibition rate, gastric juice pH, and gastric wall mucus were all evaluated. The subacute toxicity of BSO and its thymoquinone (TQ) content were also examined. The results indicated that the administration of BSO exerted gastroprotective effects by increasing the gastric wall mucus and decreasing gastric juice acidity. In the subacute toxicity test, the animals behaved normally, and their weight and water and food intake did not show significant variations. High-performance liquid chromatography detected 7.3 mg/mL TQ in BSO. These findings suggest that BSO may be a safe therapeutic drug for preventing gastric ulcers.
Keywords: Quran; black cumin seed oil; gastric ulcer; thymoquinone; toxicity; traditional Arabic and Islamic medicine.