Abstract
Background: Nigella sativa has been traditionally used for treatment of different diseases and their complication including diabetes. The purpose of this study was to examine the consequences of diabetic mellitus on the tissue of pancreas and kidney and the curative and protective impacts of nigella sativa oil compared to metformin. Methods: A total of 30 male Wistar rats were subclassified into 5 groups, control group on normal diet and no intervention, diabetic group administered 70 mg/kg STZ as a single IP injection, metformin group administered70 mg/kg STZ as a single IP injection and 150 mg/kg/day metformin. Nigella sativa 2 ml group administered70 mg/kg STZ as a single IP injection and Nigella sativa 2 mL/kg/rat daily. Nigella sativa 4 ml group administered 70 mg/kg STZ as a single IP injection and Nigella sativa 2 mL/kg/rat daily. The treatment continued for 40 days. Blood collected for glucose measurement every 10 days and animal sacrificed at the end of the study, pancreas and kidneys harvested for histological study. Result: The serum glucose levels in STZ group significantly increased reaching up to 600 mg/dl over different time points compared to less than 100 mg/dl in control group. The glucose levels were significantly (p less than 0.05) reduced in STZ+Met, Nigella sativa 2 ml group and Nigella sativa 4 ml group compared to STZ group. The histological sections have shown comparable improvement of kidney and pancreas sections. Although the amount and rate of damage reduction differ between treatments, the results showed that both doses considerably lowered blood glucose levels over time. However, the most significant glucose-lowering effect was established by metformin, which is align with its well-established pharmacological profile.