Biological Evaluation of Nigella sativa L. Seeds cultivated in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Evaluation of the soluble fractions of the alcoholic extract of Nigella sativa cultivated in Saudi Arabia for their cytotoxic, antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant activities were done using the brine shrimp lethality assay and mouse lymphoma (L5178Y), rat brain tumour (PC12), human cervix cancer cells lines (HELA) and colon cancer colo-205 cell lines for the cytotoxic activity. The antibacterial activity was evaluated using the gram-positive bacteria Bacillus subtilis 168 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli ATC 25922, Salmonella ATC 25921, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomona aeruginosa ATC 49189. Meanwhile, Candida albicans, Saccharomyces cereviisae and Aspergillus flavus were used for assessing the antifungal activity. Finally, evaluation of the antioxidant activity using the DPPH assay was also carried out.