Anthelmintic activity of Nigella sativa L., seeds on gastrointestinal nematodes of sheep.

摘要

Nigella sativa L. (Ranunculaceae) seeds have been used as a traditional medicine for the treatment of a variety of ailments in human and animals including parasitic diseases. The anthelmintic activity of N. sativa was evaluated against the gastrointestinal nematodes of sheep via egg hatch assay and faecal egg counts reduction test in vitro and in vivo, respectively. In vitro studies revealed that aqueous and ethanolic extracts at the concentration of 3.12, 6.3, 12.5, 25.0 and 50.0 mg/ml exhibited ovicidal effects (p<0.05) against the eggs of gastrointestinal nematodes. The highest ED50 value of N. sativa extract was recorded on the eggs of Oe. columbianum (21.88 mg/ml) whereas the lower value was recorded on the eggs Trichostrongylus spp. (15.85 mg/ml). In vivo studies revealed that experimental animal groups treated with the doses of 200 mg/kg of either aqueous or ethanolic extracts of N. sativa exhibited higher (p<0.05) reduction rate on FEC as compared to untreated groups (negative control). The highest reduction rate on FEC of treated animal groups was 69.5 and 54.2% with ethanolic and aqueous extracts, respectively at the dose of 200 mg/kg on the 14th day post treatment whereas at the treatment doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg, the reduction rate ranged between 2.48 to 29.59% from 3rd onward to 14th post treatment. The current study showed that N. sativa seed extracts possess anthelmintic activity, thus justifying their use in traditional and veterinary practices.