Showing papers on "Nigella damascena published in 2018"
TL;DR: The results obtained for antimicrobial assay clearly indicated that N. damascena essential oil and isolated β-elemene exert action against Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain H37Ra.
Abstract: The most commonly used plant source of β-elemene is Curcuma wenyujin Y. H. Chen & C. Ling (syn. of Curcuma aromatic Salisb.) with its content in supercritical CO₂ extract up to 27.83%. However, the other rich source of this compound is Nigella damascena L. essential oil, in which β-elemene accounts for 47%. In this work, the effective protocol for preparative isolation of β-elemene from a new source-N. damascena essential oil-using high performance counter-current chromatography HPCCC was elaborated. Furthermore, since sesquiterpens are known as potent antimicrobials, the need for finding new agents designed to combat multi-drug resistant strains was addressed and the purified target compound and the essential oil were tested for its activity against a panel of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, fungi, and mycobacterial strains. The application of the mixture of petroleum ether, acetonitrile, and acetone in the ratio 2:1.5:0.5 (v/v) in the reversed phase mode yielded β-elemene with high purity in 70 min. The results obtained for antimicrobial assay clearly indicated that N. damascena essential oil and isolated β-elemene exert action against Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain H37Ra.
24 citations
TL;DR: The structural determination of new compounds damasterpenes V–VIII is described with consideration of their absolute configurations and the antiviral activities against herpes simplex virus type-1 of the isolated compounds and their derivatives are evaluated.
Abstract: Nigella species are rich source of dolabellane diterpenes. During our study of Nigella species, new dolabellane diterpenes, damasterpenes V–VIII were isolated. The structural determination of new compounds damasterpenes V–VIII is described with consideration of their absolute configurations. The antiviral activities against herpes simplex virus type-1 of the isolated compounds and their derivatives are also evaluated. Damasterpene V (inhibition 35.0%) and 2-phenylacetyl 13-benzoyl damasterpenol (32.0%) showed significant antiviral activity at 10 μM.
11 citations
16 Jan 2018
TL;DR: Knowing about the spatial distribution and the frequency of occurrence of wild-type and mutant populations through time will help botanists and evolutionary biologists investigate the origin and ecological grounds for the maintenance and propagation of the apetalous morph in the wild.
Abstract: Perianth dimorphism in Nigella damascena (Ranunculaceae) has been documented for four centuries, and its genetic basis started to be studied almost a century ago. Based on herbarium collections, we...
4 citations
05 Feb 2018
TL;DR: To investigate the chromosome dynamics during mitosis, it is convenient to mark the discrete chromosome foci and then analyze their spatial rearrangements during prophase condensation and telophase decondensation using semi-thin sections of Nigella damascena L. roots embedded in LR White acrylic resin.
Abstract: To investigate the chromosome dynamics during mitosis, it is convenient to mark the discrete chromosome foci and then analyze their spatial rearrangements during prophase condensation and telophase decondensation. To label the chromosome regions in plant chromosomes, we incorporated the synthetic nucleotide, 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU), which can be detected by click-chemistry, into chromatin during replication. Here, we described a protocol of a method based on the application of semi-thin sections of Nigella damascena L. roots embedded in LR White acrylic resin. The thickness of semi-thin (100-250 nm) sections is significantly lower than that of optical sections even if a confocal microscope was used. This approach may also be suitable for work with any tissue fragments or large cells (oocytes, cells with polytene chromosomes, etc.).
1 citations