The loss of the ability for learning and memory is a prominent feature of dementia, which affects millions of individuals all over the world, due to either neurodegenerative diseases or brain injury. Although a lot of information is known about the pathology involved, treatment remains elusive at best. The Black Seed of Nigella sativa has been historically and religiously used for thousands of years for preventing and treating many different kinds of diseases. This review article looks at Nigella sativa and its potential role in facilitating learning and memory. The possible use of this seed's extract or compounds isolated from it, such as thymoquinone, for treating damaged brain neural tissue is discussed. The evidence presented in this paper appears to be supporting the hypothesis that this plant and/or its bioactive constituents can enhance learning and memory in health and disease in animals and humans.
Nigella sativa, an established historical and religion-based remedy for a wide range of health problems, is a herbal medicine known to have antioxidant and neuroprotective effects. This present study investigated the effect of Nigella sativa oil (NSO) administration on the spatial memory performance (SMP) of male adult rats using eight-arm radial arm maze (RAM). Twelve Sprague Dawley rats (7–9 weeks old) were force-fed daily with 6.0 μL/100 g body weight of Nigella sativa oil (NSO group; n = 6) or 0.1 mL/100 g body weight of corn oil (control) (CO group; n = 6) for a period of 20 consecutive weeks. For each weekly evaluation of SMP, one day food-deprived rats were tested by allowing each of them 3 minutes to explore the RAM for food as their rewards. Similar to the control group, the SMP of the treated group was not hindered, as indicated by the establishment of the reference and working memory components of the spatial memory. The results demonstrated that lesser mean numbers of error were observed for the NSO-treated group in both parameters as compared to the CO-treated group. NSO could therefore enhance the learning and memory abilities of the rats; there was a significant decrease in the overall mean number of working memory error (WME) in the NSO-treated group.
Twenty-four Sprague-Dawley male rats (7–9 weeks old, 200–250 g) were divided into Nicotine (N) (0.5 mg/100 g body weight (BW), Nicotine Control (NC) (saline, 0.1 mL/100 g BW), Habbatus sauda oil (HS) (6.0 μL/100 g BW), and Habbatus sauda Control (HSC) (corn oil, 0.1 mL/100 g BW) groups and treated for 100 days. Sperm parameters and seminiferous tubules measurements were evaluated. The N showed a significantly lower sperm motility (1.03 ± 0.05 × 106 sperm/mL) and percentage of normal (82.61 ± 0.03%) and live (93.88 ± 0.01%) sperm, higher value for the seminiferous tubule (253.36 ± 1.83 μm) and lumen (100.15 ± 2.38 μm) diameters and spermatogonia (19.85 ± 0.39 μm) and spermatocytes (33.37 ± 0.59 μm) layers, and thinner spermatid-sperm layer (22.14 ± 0.71 μm) than the NC (P < 0.05). The HS had significantly higher sperm motility (1.49 ± 0.04 × 106 sperm/mL) and percentage of normal (90.61 ± 0.01%) and live (96.98 ± 0.01%) sperm, smaller lumen diameter (67.53 ± 2.34 μm) and thinner spermatogonia (17.67 ± 0.32 μm) and wider spermatid-sperm (36.95 ± 0.79 μm) layers than the HSC (P < 0.05). This research confirmed that nicotine reduced sperm motility and morphology of normal and live sperms and also affected the testis histology, while Habbatus sauda oil increased sperm quality and gave better testis histological features.
The critically endangered Malayan tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni), with an estimated population of less than 200 individuals left in isolated rainforest habitats in Malaysia, is in an intermediate population crash leading to extinction in the next decade. The population has decreased significantly by illegal poaching, environmental perturbation, roadkill, and being captured during human–wildlife conflicts. Forty-five or more individuals were extracted from the wild (four animals captured due to conflict, one death due to canine distemper, one roadkilled, and 39 poached) in the 12 years between 2008–2019. The Malayan tigers are the first wildlife species to test positive for COVID-19 and are subject to the Canine Distemper Virus. These anthropogenic disturbances (poaching and human–tiger conflict) and environmental perturbation (decreasing habitat coverage and quality) have long been identified as impending extinction factors. Roadkill and infectious diseases have emerged recently as new confounding factors threatening Malayan tiger extinction in the near future. Peninsular Malaysia has an existing Malayan tiger conservation management plan; however, to enhance the protection and conservation of Malayan tigers from potential extinction, the authority should reassess the existing legislation, regulation, and management plan and realign them to prevent further population decline, and to better enable preparedness and readiness for the ongoing pandemic and future threats.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.