Mahmood M Saeed, Gilani A H, Khwaja Afsheen, Rashid Ayesha, Ashfaq M K
Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, The Aga Khan University Medical College, Karachi, Pakistan.
Phytother Res. 2003 Sep;17(8):921-4. doi: 10.1002/ptr.1251.
The in vitro effect of aqueous extract of Nigella sativa seeds on nitric oxide (NO) production by murine macrophages was studied. Murine peritoneal macrophages were pre-incubated with the extract and then activated with Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharride. NO production was measured after 24 hours by spectrophotometry. The plant extract caused a dose-dependent decrease in NO production. Dialyzed preparation of the extract did not affect NO production. However, the boiled fraction of the extract resulted in a dose-dependent inhibition of NO apparently comparable to that of the whole extract. These results indicate that the aqueous extract of N. sativa seeds exhibits an inhibitory effect on nitric oxide production by murine macrophages and the active component(s) is/are non-protein in nature. In view of the fact that nitric oxide is a pro-inflammatory mediator, this study validates the traditional use of the Nigella sativa seeds for the treatment of rheumatism.
研究了黑种草籽水提取物对小鼠巨噬细胞产生一氧化氮（NO）的体外作用。将小鼠腹腔巨噬细胞与提取物预孵育，然后用大肠杆菌脂多糖激活。24小时后通过分光光度法测量NO的产生。植物提取物导致NO产生呈剂量依赖性降低。提取物的透析制剂不影响NO的产生。然而，提取物的煮沸部分导致NO的剂量依赖性抑制，显然与整个提取物相当。这些结果表明，黑种草籽水提取物对小鼠巨噬细胞产生一氧化氮具有抑制作用，且活性成分本质上是非蛋白质的。鉴于一氧化氮是一种促炎介质，本研究证实了黑种草籽治疗风湿病的传统用途。
