Nigella Sativa L.: A Golden Remedy: Significance Worldwide Highlighting Their Possible Use for Covid-19

Abstract

Nigella sativa L. is a therapeutic natural herb that cures several serious ailments, so can be considered a Golden remedy. It has been used for centuries and has a long history in different cultures. This review article has surveyed nearly all the relevant literature on Nigella sativa L. from 1960-2020, offering a broad range of data including the origin, taxonomy, botany, history of traditional uses in different regions then passing through their phytochemistry, pharmacology, and consumed natural pharmaceutical preparations till recent findings and their possible use in COVID-19 therapy. The main aim of this review is to focus on the importance of Nigella sativa L. as a medicinal herb used widely in therapy and to correlate its phytochemical constituents with their pharmacological effects. The biological importance was attributed to Thymoquinone in the first-place present in the volatile oil of the seeds and other classes such as sterols, triterpenes, tannins, flavonoids, and cardiac glycosides, alkaloids, saponins, coumarins, volatile bases, glucosinolates, and anthraquinones. Moreover, several studies confirmed its benefits in Alzheimer’s disease, as a potent antioxidant, cytotoxic, antiallergic, antimicrobial, etc. In addition to other studies which documented the use of this plant mainly the seeds and the extracted essential oil, in the production of cosmeceutical preparations, and its role as a nutritive spice in the food industry due to its very low toxicity, besides their use as fodder for farm animals.
 
 Peer Review History: 
 Received: 6 May 2022; Revised: 13 June; Accepted: 30 June, Available online: 15 July 2022
 Academic Editor: Ahmad Najib, Universitas Muslim Indonesia, Indonesia, ahmad.najib@umi.ac.id
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 Received file: Reviewer's Comments:
 Average Peer review marks at initial stage: 5.5/10
 Average Peer review marks at publication stage: 7.0/10
 Reviewers:
 Ahmad Najib, Universitas Muslim Indonesia, Makassar, Indonesia, ahmad.najib@umi.ac.id
 Prof. Dr. Ali Gamal Ahmed Al-kaf, Sana'a university, Yemen, alialkaf21@gmail.com
 Prof. Dr. Hüsniye Kayalar, Ege University, Turkey, husniyekayalar@gmail.com
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