Agaricus arvensis, a newly isolated basidiomycetous fungus, was found to secrete efficient cellulases. The strain produced the highest endoglucanase (EG), cellobiohydrolase (CBH) and beta-glucosidase (BGL) activities of 0.3, 3.2 and 8U/mg-protein, respectively, with rice straw as the carbon source. Saccharification of the woody biomass with A. arvensis cellulase as the enzyme source released a ...

Intergeneric hybridization was performed between Moricandia arvensis and four inbred lines of Brassica rapa following embryo rescue. Three F(1) hybrid plants were developed from three cross combinations of M. arvensis × B. rapa, and amphidiploids were synthesized by colchicine treatment. Six BC(1) plants were generated from a single cross combination of amphidipolid × B. rapa 'Ko1-303' through ...

Context: The application of encapsulated shoot tips and nodal segments may contribute to the protection of rare and threatened medicinal plants. Although the artificial seed technique has been reported for more than two decades, for medicinal plants this method has not been developed sufficiently. The main limitations in conventional propagation of some species with medicinal value are: reduced...

UNLABELLED Diabetes mellitus is a common chronic disease affecting millions of people world wide. Standard treatment is failing to achieve required correction of blood glucose in many patients. Therefore, there is a need for investigating potential hypoglycemic drugs or herbs to improve glycemic control in diabetic patients. Nigella sativa seeds were used as an adjuvant therapy in patients with...

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of Nigella sativa and Lepidium sativum on the pharmacokinetics of cyclosporine in rabbits. Two groups of animals were treated separately with Nigella sativa (200 mg/kg p.o.) or Lepidium sativum (150 mg/kg p.o.) for eight consecutive days. On the 8th day, cyclosporine (30 mg/kg p.o.) was administered to each group one hour after herbal t...

Hepatitis C is a major global health burden and Egypt has the highest prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) worldwide. The current study was designed to evaluate the beneficial therapeutic effects of ethanolic extracts of Nigella sativa, Zingiber officinale and their mixture in Egyptian HCV patients. Sixty volunteer patients with proven HCV and fifteen age matched healthy subjects were included...

OBJECTIVE To determine the analgesic effect of ethanolic extract of Nigella sativa seeds on experimentally-induced pain in albino mice. STUDY DESIGN Randomized controlled trial (RCT). PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Physiology Department, Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS), Lahore, from May to September, 2009. METHODOLOGY The study was carried out in 90 male albino mice using aceti...

An extract of Smilax china, Hemidesmus indicus and Nigella Sativa on the ratio 3:2:1, prepared by boiling in water and concentrated could completely cure cases of oral canger diagnosed by modern methods. Cytotoxic studies with the three components showed activity in Nigella sativa at a concentration of 25 microgram equivalent of the dry powder against Dalton's lymphoma ascites cells. Animal exp...

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of hypothyroidism on the development of acute cold restraint stress gastritis in rats and protective effect of Nigella sativa at the beginning of the acute cold restraint stress. 60 rats were randomly divided into six groups; the control (groups I), surgically thyroidectomized group (group II), acute cold restraint stressed group (group III), surg...