ABSTRACT
Background: Excessive consumption of High Fat Diet (HFD) harmfully impacts body tissues and organs. Interestingly, there is a highconcern towards the use of medicinal plants to ameliorate those harmful effects. Objectives: This study is aimed at investigating the effectivepossibility of Nigella Sativa (NS) seeds powder on liver and small intestine of the rats fed on HFD using biochemical, histological andmorphometric techniques. Material and Methods: Eighteen adult male albino rats were randomly divided into three equal groups. Group I(control) was fed on standard rat pellets chow, Group II (HFD) was fed on standard diet mixed butter (20% fat of diet) and Group III (HFD+ NS) was fed on HFD and concomitantly administrated Nigella sativa (300 mg/Kg daily orally) for 8 weeks. The biochemical studyincluded lipid profile assessment and the histological study included paraffin sections of small intestine and liver stained by Hematoxylinand Eosin, Masson-trichrome for liver collagen and PAS for intestinal Goblet cells to evaluate the histological alteration. Quantitativestatistical analysis of area percent of liver collagen content and goblet cells was done using Digital pro-image analysis. Results: HFD wasassociated with increased serum lipid profile. The histological analysis of hepatic sections revealed abundant fat deposition, inflammatorycell infiltrate, degeneration of hepatocytes with significant increase of collagen fibers as shown by image analysis. Inflammatory changeswith significant reduction in the mean area percent of Goblet cells were observed in intestine of HFD group. NS intake significantly loweredserum level of total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL, in concomitant with reversed HFD-induced histological alteration by decreasinghepatic collagen deposition and increasing intestinal goblet cells. Conclusion: Biochemical, histological and morphometric resultsprovided further evidence that crude NS seeds powder can ameliorate high fat diet–induced alteration in liver and small intestinesuggesting its beneficial use in preventive medicine.