Nigella sativa Linn. ameliorates D-galactosamine/LPS induced hepatitis

D-Galactosamine (D-GaIN) has been shown to produce a liver damage closely related to human viral hepatitis with necrosis, inflammation and regeneration. Hepatotoxicity is one of the common diseased conditions leading to serious consequences ranging from metabolic disorders to even death. Management of liver diseases is still a great challenge to the modern medicine. At present only a few hepatoprotective drugs from natural sources are available and there is lack of effective allopathic medication available for treatment of liver disorders. We evaluated therapeutic potential of ethanolic extract of Nigella sativa (NS) seeds against D-GaIN and LPS induced liver damage in rats. NS is a small herb of the family Ranunculaceae, which has significant traditional usage as medicine and is also known to biosynthesize phytochemicals such as thymoquinone, theymohydroquinone, nigellicimine, terpineol and nigellidine. They have been shown to possess an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities.