In vitro anti-inflammatory activity of extracts from seeds of some Nigella species

P. Landa; P. Marsik; T. Vanek; L. Kokoska

doi:10.1055/s-2007-986804

Planta Medica, Table of Contents

In vitro anti-inflammatory activity of extracts from seeds of some Nigella species

P Landa ¹, P Marsik ¹, T Vanek ¹, L Kokoska ²

¹Laboratory of Plant Biotechnologies, Joint Laboratory of Institute of Experimental Botany AS CR, v.v.i. and Research Institute of Crop Production, v.v.i., Rozvojova 263, 165 02– Prague 6, Czech Republic
²Department of Crop Sciences and Agroforestry, Institute of Tropics and Subtropics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 165 21 Prague 6– Suchdol, Czech Republic

Abstract

The seeds of Nigella sativa L., commonly known as black seed or black cumin, are used in the Indian subcontinent, Arab countries and Europe in folk medicine and for culinary purposes [1]. Among wide spectrum of biological activities, also the anti-inflammatory activity of seeds and their constituents has been determined in vitro as well as in vivo [2, 3, 4]. In the present study n-hexane (H), chloroform (C) and methanol (M) Soxhlet extracts from seeds of N. sativa and other five less known species of the genus (N. arvensis L., N. damascena L., N. hispanica L., N. nigellastrum Willk., and N. orientalis L.) were examined (in concentration 100µg/mL) for in vitro inhibition of cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) and -2 (COX-2) enzymes.

The strongest inhibitory activity on COX-2 possessed H extracts from N. orientalis (87.13%) followed by N. arvensis (82.31%), N. hispanica (80.13%), and N. sativa (78.13%). The best activity in COX-1 assay was found out for H extracts from N. sativa (100% inhibition) followed by N. orientalis (90.41%) and C extract from N. hispanica (89.29%). H and C extract from N. arvensis showed better efficiency on COX-2 then COX-1. In both assays, H extracts were the most efficient (with exception of N. hispanica and N. nigellastrum in COX-1 test) which indicates that mainly non-polar constituents participate on inhibitory activity of plant extracts tested on both COX forms. N. orientalis, N. arvensis and N. hispanica showed better inhibitory activity on COX-2 than in folk medicine widely used N. sativa. It indicates that these plants should be further studied as potential source of anti-inflammatory compounds.

Acknowledgements: This work was supported by project 1P04OC926.001.

References: [1] Ali, B. H., Blunden, G. (2003) Phytother. Res. 17: 299–305. [2] Al-Okbi, S. Y. et al. (1997) Egypt J. Pharm. Sci. 38: 451–469. [3] El-Dakhakhny, M. (2002) J. Ethnopharmacol. 81: 161–164. [4] Marsik et al. (2005) Planta Med. 71: 739–742.