Skip to main content
. 2020 Sep 20;14(4):127–137. doi: 10.1515/abm-2020-0020

Table 5.

Cytotoxic and genotoxic properties of Nigella sativa in vitro

Substance Concentration period Period Cell type Main results Reference
N. sativa oil 0.25, 0.5, and 1 μg/mL 95 h Gingival fibroblasts No cytotoxicity [67]
N. sativa EE 0–2 mg/mL 24 h Rat L6 muscle cell line
HepG2 cell line		 EC50 >2,000 μg/mL against L6myc cell lines
EC50 >1,470 μg/mL against HepG2 cell lines		 [68]
N. sativa EE 100, 500, and 1,000 μg/mL 48 h Isolated rat splenocytes Cytotoxic effects at 500 and 1,000 μg/mL [57]
N. sativa EO and ME, PE, CE, AE, and ether extract 10, 100, and 1,000 μg/mL 24 h BSL Higher toxicity by chloroform and petroleum ether extracts.
LC50 petroleum ether: 7 μg/mL
LC50 chloroform: 21 μg/mL		 [69]
N. sativa seed VO 500, 250, 125, and 62.5 μg/mL Not specified SCL, SCL-6, SCL-37′6, NUGC-4, Kato-3, 3T6 LC50 SCL 155.02 μg/mL
LC50 SCL-6 185.77 μg/mL
LC50 SCL-37′6 120.40 μg/mL
LC50 NUGC-4 384.53 μg/mL
LC50 3T6 286.83 μg/mL		 [70]
N. sativa PE and AE 670 μg/mL 24 h HL60 IC50 PE 654 μg/mL
IC50 AE >1,000 μg/ml		 [71]
N. sativa EO 100 mg/mL 24 h Huh7 human cells No cytotoxicity [72]
N. sativa seed oil 50–500 μg/mL U-1242, U251, U-87, U-373, A172 and SNB19 IC50 260 μg/mL [58]
AE of N. sativa 0.5, 1, 4, 8, 9, and 18 mg/mL Human C3A cells Positive micronucleus test extract from Setta [73]
N. sativa seed ME, NE, and CE 2, 2.25, 2.5, 2.75, and 3 μg/mL of methanolic, n-hexane.
0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1 ng/mL of chloroform		 24 h HeLa cells IC50 methanolic: 2.28 μg/mL
IC50 n-hexane 2.20 μg/mL
IC50 chloroform 0.41 ng/mL		 [74]
N. sativa AE 79.5 μg/mL 48 h F 344 hepatocytes treated with MNNG ↑ Chromosomal aberrations [59]

VO, volatile oil; FO, fixed oil; AE, aqueous extract; ME, methanol extract; CE, chloroform extract; NE, n-hexane extract; EO, essential oil; EE, ethanol extract; PE, petroleum ether extract; EC50, effective concentration; BSL, brine shrimp lethality assay; LC50, concentration that kills 50% of the cells, IC50, half-maximal inhibitory concentration inhibits 50% cell maximal growth; HL60, human myeloid leukemia cell line; MNNG, N-methyl-N-nitro-N-c.