Journal of Semnan University of Medical Sciences
Image Credit:Koomesh
Outline
Comparison of the Essential Oil and the Purified Thymoquinone in Different Varieties of Nigella sativa L. Cultivated in the Different Regions of Iran and Investigation of Their Antibacterial Activity
Authors
Abstract
Background: Black seed (Nigella sativa L.) is a medicinal plant that is cultivated in different regions of Iran. The importance of plants is due to the presence of various bio-active compounds in the seeds, which are especially recommended in Islamic medicine. One of its important compounds of the seed is thymoquinone, which is in the essential oil.
Objectives: The purpose of this research is to compare the amount of the extracted essential oil and the thymoquinone in selective varieties of black seed in Iran and to investigate their antibacterial activity.
Methods: The extraction of essential oil from black seed was performed in a two-stage process. First, by the Soxhlet extruder method and using petroleum ether as eluent. The extract was obtained, and then the essential oil extraction was performed using Clevenger. Separation and purification of thymoquinone from essential oil were performed with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). To investigate the antibacterial activity of the oils, the antibiogram test, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were performed. Results: Iranian varieties of Semirom (Isfahan) and Taibad (Khorasan-Razavi) have the highest amount of essential oil. The results of the qualitative analysis of the thymoquinone amount extracted from the essential oils of these two varieties by HPLC showed that the essential oils of Semirom and Taibad contained 97.9 and 96.9 percent of thymoquinone, respectively. The MIC was around 3% (v/v%) and MBC was 6% (v/v%) on Staphylococcus aureus bacterium
Conclusion: The selected varieties of Semirom and Taibad have the highest amount of thymoquinone, which could be taken into consideration in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical products
Highlights
References
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© 2025, Author(s). This open-access article is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which allows for unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited.
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