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Nigella sativa (black caraway, also known as black cumin, nigella, and kalonji) is an annual flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, native to south and southwest Asia, North Africa, and southern Europe. It is cultivated in the southern and eastern regions of the Mediterranean basin, Iran, and Pakistan for seed yield and essential and volatile oil production.

The seeds of the plant are released when the fruit capsules open and they are the part of the plant used in the creation of herbal medicines and remedies

History[edit]
N. sativa was used in the Middle East as a folk medicine, named in the Bible as a "curative black cumin" and used in Islamic cultures and ancient Egypt as a universal healer. It was used as a anti-inflammatory agent and analgesic. In traditional Iranian medicine, it was used to treat dyspepsia, diabetes, headache, influenza, and asthma.

It has a long history in Indian folklore of being used in Unani and Ayurvedic medicine and Arabian folklore.

Chemistry[edit]
Fixed oils, which constitute 36%-38% of N. sativa seeds, are observed to have low chronic toxicity, particularly in the active principle thymoquinone.

N. sativa is comprised of 0.4%-2.5% essential oil. The essential oil can be attained through hydrodistillation, microwave-assisted extraction, and super critical fluid extraction.

Research[edit]
Other investigations have explored the cytotoxic effects of N. sativa on carcinogenic cells, yielding limited evidence to suggest that lymphoma cells are impacted by the use of the volatile oil from N. sativa.

The activities and effects of N. sativa on living specimens have been investigated through multiple biological experiments, one of which claims that the hemoglobin levels exhibited in rats treated with N. sativa fixed oil increased. It also found that the fixed oils caused behavioral abnormalities and that rats experienced agitation immediately following the application of the oils. Sedative and post analgesic effects were also observed in the rats after the application of the fixed oil.

A study of the anti-inflammatory effects of N. sativa yielded evidence that the inhibitory effects of thymoquinone were accountable for the anti-inflammatory properties observed. Although multiple studies have attempted to seek confirmation of anti-pyretic activity in N. sativa, sufficient evidence to suggest so has not been attained.

Research investigating the effects of N. sativa on reproductive health in both women and men has also been conducted, particularly on perimenopausal women and infertile men with abnormal semen quality. The impact of N. sativa on fertility in women was found to enhance fertility in women in twelve studies and is promoted as an agent for male fertility.

A review of in vivo studies testing the suitability of thymoquinone as a liver-protecting drug in transplantation surgeries have reported antifibrotic and pro-apoptopic effects of N. sativa.