Abstract
The objective of the present study was to evaluate in vivo the anti-coccidial effect of Nigella sativa L. seeds in aqueous suspensions and oil emulsions in rabbits. Both treatments had anti-coccidial effects as demonstrated by reduced fecal oocyst shedding, significant body weight gain, recovery of normal liver weights and remarkable improvement of liver tissue histopathology. This improvements includes disappearance of bleeding between hepatic lobules and severe reduction in the infiltration of the inflammatory cells in the portal area, reduction in the various stages of parasites in the bile ducts, return of the natural hypatocytes radial arrangement, disappearance of all severe symptoms and the heading of the tissue structure towards full recuperation. Though both treatments were effective, the N. sativa oil emulsion treatments showed more rapid and robust anti-parasitic effects than did the water suspension treatments. As previously indicated, N. sativa treatment did not cause any harmful side effects, though uninfected animals that received N. sativa treatments gained more weight than did the untreated controls. Therefore, N. sativa seed suspensions and oil emulsions are safe and effective anti-parasitic treatments for Eimeria stiedae infection in rabbits. Future studies focus on determining the active components of N. sativa seeds, optimizing the effective doses and elucidating the mechanism of action.