Advance in research on chemical constituents and pharmacological effects of Nigella seeds / 中国药学杂志

The plants of Nigella genus distribute worldwide among Southwest Asia, South Europe and North Africa rigions. Their seeds are applied extensively as both traditional food additives and medicinal herbs in all Islamic countries since ancient time. In the past three decades, Nigella seeds were reported to contain fatty acids, volatile oil, saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids, and other constituents. It had pharmacological effects such as antioxidant, anti-infective, anti-tumor, anti-platelet aggregation effects, etc. In this paper, the chemical composition and pharmacological effects of Nigella seeds in the recent five years are reviewed, which may be helpful for further investigations of these valuable herbs.