Abstract
Nigella damascena seed is characterized by the presence of the major alkaloid, damascenine and its related metabolites. To our knowledge, no detailed subchronic toxicological assessment of damascenine (DA) has been reported. The present study evaluated the potential toxicity of DA in vivo after sub-chronic intraperitoneal (i.p) administration in mice and in vitro following human erythrocyte hemolysis. In vivo, a total of 48 adult male and female Swiss albino mice were used in a sub-chronic toxicity study. The mice received intraperitoneally two doses of DA (20 and 100 mg/kg) for 28 days. Food intake, body weight and central body temperature were measured during the experiment. After completion of drug treatment, biochemical and histological analyses were performed. No mortality was observed in any of the treatment groups of mice, showing no toxic effects during the study. Neither were biochemical parameters altered; no significant differences were observed concerning glucose, bilirubin, aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), urea, and creatinine parameters. No histopathological alterations were found in kidney and liver structures. In vitro, we focused on the human erythrocyte hemolytic process in the presence of several concentrations of DA. High level concentration of 1 000 μg/ml of DA revealed normal cell shapes and absence of hemolysis and deformation.