Proteomic Analysis of the Protein Expression Profile in the Mature Nigella sativa (Black Seed)

The Immunomodulatory Effect of Nigella sativa

BACKGROUND

For thousands of years till nowadays, Nigella sativa (NS) has served as a common spice and food preservative. Its seed extracts, seed oil, and essential oil in traditional medicine have been used to remedy many ailments such as headaches, fever, gastric complaints, and even rheumatism. In addition, the antibacterial, virucidal, fungicidal, and antiparasitic properties of NS are well known. However, studies on the possible immunomodulatory effects of black cumin are relatively scarce. This article discusses in vitro and in vivo research supporting the immunomodulatory role of NS.

METHODS

The review is based on articles, books, and conference papers printed until September 2022, found in the Web of Science, PubMed, Wiley Online Library, and Google Scholar databases.

RESULTS

Experimental findings were reported concerning the ability of NS to modulate inflammation and immune responses or cytotoxic activity.

CONCLUSIONS

All results suggest that NS can potentially be employed in developing effective therapeutic agents for regulating immune reactions.

Seeds from ancient food crops with the potential for antiobesity promotion

Populations like to have a healthy diet without changing their fundamental dietary pattern. The importance of dietetic foods with health potential has increased the interest of consumers on crops with nutraceutical messages. Several plant food products from selected ancient crops like flax, chia, black cumin, sunflower, sesame, and pumpkin seeds contain substances with high health benefits. These crops are usually rich sources in fatty acids, sterols, phenolic compounds and dietary fiber which have mainly shown the ability to increase satiety and obesity control, among chronic degenerative diseases and others. These plant seeds offer outstanding features for the food and nutraceutical industries, due to their functional components. This review focuses on scientific evidence of the different potential benefits of these crops on human antiobesity promotion.

Identification of Novel Proteins from Black Cumin Seed Meals Based on 2D Gel Electrophoresis and MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS Analysis

The amount of cold press oil manufacture is globally rising, which in turn leads to the accumulation of deoiled plant seeds at significant quantities and consequent manufacture of plant protein products. In this study, we made an attempt to analyze the protein profile of black cumin seed protein concentrates prepared by the alkali extraction-acid precipitation technique (AE-IP). The analytical strategy relied on gel-based proteome mapping which included two-dimensional gel electrophoresis followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF/TOF). 14 different protein bands were identified, and in gel-trypsinolysis was carried out for the corresponding gel spots. Using the MASCOT database, current findings on 10 proteins were compared with the existing data. The highest similarity was 46 which was obtained between the highest pI black cumin protein observed here and the cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor of Arabidopsis thaliana. The molecular mass of the intact protein was determined by linear MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS as 23,711.2186 Da. The peptide constructs of this protein have been further studied in order to identify potential biological activity. Matching sequences generated bioactive peptides in silico such as IR, AL, and SL dipeptides during sequential enzymatic digestion with pepsin and trypsin. Since the majority of bioactivity investigations on black cumin seeds have been related to black cumin oil and its oil soluble components, the structure and bioactivities of black cumin proteins deserve further research.

Proteomic Contributions to Medicinal Plant Research: From Plant Metabolism to Pharmacological Action

Herbal medicine is a clinical practice of utilizing medicinal plant derivatives for therapeutic purposes. It has an enduring history worldwide and plays a significant role in the fight against various diseases. Herbal drug combinations often exhibit synergistic therapeutic action compared with single-constituent dosage, and can also enhance the cytotoxicity induced by chemotherapeutic drugs. To explore the mechanism underlying the pharmacological action of herbs, proteomic approaches have been applied to the physiology of medicinal plants and its effects on animals. This review article focuses on the existing proteomics-based medicinal plant research and discusses the following topics: (i) plant metabolic pathways that synthesize an array of bioactive compounds; (ii) pharmacological action of plants tested using in vivo and in vitro studies; and (iii) the application of proteomic approaches to indigenous plants with scarce sequence information. The accumulation of proteomic information in a biological or medicinal context may help in formulating the effective use of medicinal plants.