In vivo anxiolytic and in vitro anti-inflammatory activities of water-soluble extract (WSE) of Nigella sativa (L.) seeds

Abstract

The WSE is a highly polar, gummy and mucilaginous bioactive content of the Nigella sativa (L.) seeds. This study reports the anxiolytic and anti-inflammatory effects of WSE investigated using Elevated Plus Maze (EPM) and Hole-Board Test (HBT) in adult mice and human RBCs haemolysis inhibition and protein denaturation respectively. The oral WSE treatment (100 & 200 mg/kg b.w/day) for 72 hours has exhibited slightly better anxiolytic effect (p < 0.05) through the time span (92.33 & 93.33 s) spent in the opened arms of EPM vs. diazepam (1 mg/kg b.w i.p/day; 69.33 s). In HBT, only WSE (200 mg/kg b.w/day) has shown a promising number of mean head pokes (13.27 times/min) vs. diazepam (12.87 times/min). The WSE (62.5-500 µg/mL) exposure has exhibited 40.14‐72.18% protection against lysis of RBCs vs. aspirin (57.04-71.48%) whilst 62.67-67.66% inhibition of protein denaturation vs. diclofenac sodium (43.11-80.64%). The current findings suggested WSE has promising anxiolytic and anti-inflammatory activities.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Nigella sativa (L.) seeds
• WSE
• elevated plus maze (EPM)
• hole-board test (HBT)
• RBC haemolysis
• anxiolytic
• anti-inflammatory

Acknowledgement

All the authors are very thankful to the Department of Pharmacy, International Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC) for its financial support and laboratory facilities provided.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no potential conflict of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

The current research was not carried through any research grant but it was fully supported financially by the Department of Pharmacy, International Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC), Chittagong-4318, Bangladesh.