BACKGROUND Limited evidence supports Nigella sativa's role as an effective complementary and alternative medicine and the anti-inflammatory effects of Nigella sativa on patients with allergic rhinitis. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of topical application of Nigella sativa oil and oral acetaminophen on pain in the elderly with knee osteoarthritis residing in a p...

BACKGROUND Since long high fat diet (HFD) is being blamed for causing fatty degeneration of liver and formation of atheromatous plaques. At present, no proper pharmacotherapy is available for both the conditions. In this study, different substances containing monounsaturated fatty acids were used to observe their protective effects in the HFD induced damage to liver and coronary vessels. OBJE...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Nigella sativa Linn. is extensively used in the Indian diasporas as spice, which may interact with co-administered drugs and affect their intestinal availability. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of Nigella on bioavailability of amoxicillin in animal model. METHODS Everted rat intestinal sacs were used for in vitro experiment to study the transfe...

In this study, the chemopreventive efficacy of Nigella sativa seed powder as an important chemopreventive herb on the formation of colon tumor has been examined through measuring the levels of hepatic oxidative stress and metabolizing enzymes in 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH)-induced colon cancer in rats. Male Wistar rats were divided into 6 groups as untreated control, Sham, DMH (30mg/kg b.w) rec...

Various beneficial properties has been attributed to Nigella sativa, including its antioxidant potential. Previously, it was reported that supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) could be used to obtain N. sativa extract rich in antioxidants. In the present study, N. sativa extracts prepared using the previously optimized SFE as well as the traditional Soxhlet extraction approaches were analyzed f...

Phosphodiesterase II activity was determined by using a synthetic substrate, the 2,4-dinitrophenyl ester of thymidine 3'-phosphate. The enzyme activity was determined in fractions obtained by differential centrifugation of homogenates of epithelial cells from the small intestinal mucosa of guinea pigs and rats. In guinea-pig preparations phosphodiesterase II occurred with highest specific activ...

To investigate possible species-specificity of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR)-mediated signal transduction pathways, activities of 2,3,7,8-tetrochlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and six synthetic flavonoids were evaluated in mouse hepatoma and guinea pig adenocarcinoma cells transfected with an AhR-responsive luciferase reporter. Rank order potency in these two cell lines was similar for the abili...

Airway levels of the endogenous bronchodilator S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) are low in children with near-fatal asthma. We hypothesized that GSNO could be broken down in the lung and that this catabolism could inhibit airway smooth muscle relaxation. In our experiments, GSNO was broken down by guinea pig lung homogenates, particularly after ovalbumin sensitization (OS). Two lung protein fraction...

Stanziale, W. G. (Fort Detrick, Frederick, Md.) and J. D. White. Influence of guinea pig plasma factors on phagocytosis of Pasteurella pestis. I. Plasma from normal guinea pigs. J. Bacteriol. 83:175-181. 1962.-The existence of an enhancing effect of normal guinea pig plasma on the phagocytosis of Pasteurella pestis has been reaffirmed, using a test system consisting of neutrophils from normal n...

1. Basic protein (mol.wt. 16500) and polypeptides (mol.wt. 3500) were isolated from bovine spinal cord by a procedure involving defatting, acid extraction of the defatted material and repeated chromatography on Sephadex G-50. Similar fractions were isolated from guinea-pig brain. 2. These fractions produced experimental allergic encephalomyelitis in guinea pigs. 3. The polypeptides appeared to ...