Toxicity effect of Nigella sativa and Nigella arvensis seed extract on gastric cancer cell lines (AGS) and brain tumor cells (AST)

Every year thousands of people die because of stomach cancer and brain tumors. N. sativa plant has thymoquinone and this compound may prevent cancer cell line growth in many types of cancer. The purpose of this study was to examine the possibility of inhibiting cell growth in human stomach gastric adenocarcinoma (AGS) and astrocytoma cell lines (AST) by N. sativa and N. arvensis extract and to compare lethal effect of these two extracts on cancer cell line.
AGS and AST cell lines were cultured and seeded for 7 hours. After this time these cells treated with various concentration of N. sativa and N. arvensis extracts for 24 hours. Consequently, the cytotoxicity effect of extract on cell line was investigated by MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay.
Based on our data the extract of N. sativa has cytotoxic effects on both AGS and AST cell lines. Although in case of astrocytoma cell line this effect is not dose dependent, in AGS cell line the results do not follow the same pattern and at lower three doses the cytotoxicity effect was dose dependent. The cytotoxicity effect of N. arvensis extract on astrocytoma cell line was dose independent, but in AGS cell line this effect was dose dependent.
According to the results of this study extracts of both N. sativa and N. arvensis showed cytotoxicity effect on examined cancer cell lines.