Cytotoxicity of Nigella Sativa Seed Oil and Extract Against Human Lung Cancer Cell Line

Nigella sativa (N sativa), commonly known as black seed, has been used in traditional medicine to treat manydiseases. The antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial activities of N sativa extracts are well known.Therefore, the present study was designed to investigate the anticancer activity of seed extract (NSE) and seed oil(NSO) of N sativa against a human lung cancer cell line. Cells were exposed to 0.01 to 1 mg/ml of NSE and NSOfor 24 h, then percent cell viability was assessed by 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2yl)-2, 5-biphenyl tetrazolium bromide(MTT) and neutral red uptake (NRU) assays, and cellular morphology by phase contrast inverted microscopy.The results showed NSE and NSO significantly reduce the cell viability and alter the cellular morphology ofA-549 cells in a concentration dependent manner. The percent cell viability was recorded as 75%, 50%, and26% at 0.25, 0.5, and 1 mg/ml of NSE by MTT assay and 73%, 48%, and 23% at 0.25, 0.5, and 1 mg/ml of NSEby NRU assay. Exposure to NSO concentrations of 0.1 mg/ml and above for 24 h was also found to be cytotoxic.The decrease in cell viability at 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, and 1 mg/ml of NSO was recorded to be 89%, 52%, 41%, and 13%by MTT assay and 85%, 52%, 38%, and 11% by NRU assay, respectively. A-549 cells exposed to 0.25, 0.5 and1 mg/ml of NSE and NSO lost their typical morphology and appeared smaller in size. The data revealed thatthe treatment of seed extract (NSE) and seed oil (NSO) of Nigella sativa significantly reduce viability of humanlung cancer cells.