Composition, In Vitro Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Essential Oil and Oleoresins Obtained from Black Cumin Seeds (Nigella sativaL.)

Sunita Singh,César A N Catalán,Carola Schuff,Marina P De Lampasona,S S Das,G Singh

doi:10.1155/2014/918209

Abstract

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis revealed the major components in black cumin essential oils which were thymoquinone (37.6%) followed by p-cymene (31.2%), α-thujene (5.6%), thymohydroquinone (3.4%), and longifolene (2.0%), whereas the oleoresins extracted in different solvents contain linoleic acid as a major component. The antioxidant activity of essential oil and oleoresins was evaluated against linseed oil system at 200 ppm concentration by peroxide value, thiobarbituric acid value, ferric thiocyanate, ferrous ion chelating activity, and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging methods. The essential oil and ethyl acetate oleoresin were found to be better than synthetic antioxidants. The total phenol contents (gallic acid equivalents, mg GAE per g) in black cumin essential oil, ethyl acetate, ethanol, and n-hexane oleoresins were calculated as 11.47 ± 0.05, 10.88 ± 0.9, 9.68 ± 0.06, and 8.33 ± 0.01, respectively, by Folin-Ciocalteau method. The essential oil showed up to 90% zone inhibition against Fusarium moniliforme in inverted petri plate method. Using agar well diffusion method for evaluating antibacterial activity, the essential oil was found to be highly effective against Gram-positive bacteria.

Highlights

Preservation of food degradation, mainly by oxidation processes or by microorganism activity, during production, storage, and marketing is an important issue in the food industry
There is currently a large interest in substituting synthetic food preservatives and synthetic antioxidants for substance that can be marketed as natural. Synthetic antioxidants such as gallates, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), and tert-butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ) were the first preservatives designed for widespread industrial use
Black cumin (Nigella sativa L.) belonging to family Ranunculaceae is a spice that has been used for decades for both culinary and medicinal purposes

Summary

Introduction

Preservation of food degradation, mainly by oxidation processes or by microorganism activity, during production, storage, and marketing is an important issue in the food industry. There is currently a large interest in substituting synthetic food preservatives and synthetic antioxidants for substance that can be marketed as natural. Synthetic antioxidants such as gallates, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), and tert-butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ) were the first preservatives designed for widespread industrial use. Black cumin (Nigella sativa L.) belonging to family Ranunculaceae is a spice that has been used for decades for both culinary and medicinal purposes. It is used as a natural remedy for asthma, hypertension, diabetes, inflammation, cough, bronchitis, headache, eczema, fever, dizziness, and influenza [2]. The essential oil from the seeds of this herbaceous plant has been found to contain high concentrations of thymoquinone and its related compounds such as thymol and dithymoquinone, which have been implicated in the prevention of inflammation [4], antioxidant activities [5], such as quenching reactive oxygen species, antimicrobial activity [6], and anticarcinogenic and antiulcer activity [2]

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Results

Conclusion