Determination of anti-cancer effects of Nigella sativa seed oil on MCF7 breast and AGS gastric cancer cells.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the cytotoxic, apoptotic, invasion, metastasis, and heat shock proteins (HSPs) effects of N. sativa oil on breast and gastric cancer cells. METHODS: We assessed the cytotoxic and apoptotic effects of various concentrations of N. sativa oil (10-50-100-200 µg/mL) on MCF7 breast cancer and AGS, an adenocarcinoma of the gastric cell line, at 24, 48 and 72 h using the MTT test. Additionally, the expression of the Caspase-3, BCL2/Bax, MMP2-9 and HSP60-70 gene was examined using RT-PCR in cell lines treating with N. sativa. RESULTS: The MTT experiments demonstrate that N. sativa has a time and dose-dependent inhibitory effect on the proliferation of MCF7 and AGS cancer cells. The vitality rates of MCF7 and AGS cells treated with N. sativa were 77.04-67.50% at 24 h, 65.28-39.14% at 48 h, and 48.95-32.31% at 72 h. The doses of 100 and 200 µg/mL were shown to be the most effective on both cancer cells. RT-PCR analysis revealed that N. sativa oil extract increased caspase-3 levels in both cell lines at higher concentrations and suppressed BCL2/Bax levels. Exposure of MCF7 and AGS cell lines to N. sativa caused a significant decrease in the expression of MMP2-9 and HSP60-70 genes over time, particularly at a dosage of 200 µg/mL compared to the control group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that N. sativa oil has a dose-dependent effect on cytotoxicity and the expression of apoptotic, heat shock proteins, and matrix metalloproteinases genes in breast and gastric cancer.

Antioxidant Activities of Different Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Market Types by Spectrophotometric Techniques Combined with Chemometrics.

Peanut is rich in oil and protein and has a large content of bioactive constituents consisting of tocopherols, phytosterols, and so on. Generally, Virginia, Spanish, Valencia and Runner market types are grown of peanut. In this study, it is aimed to determine the antioxidant activity, total phenolic content and total flavonoid content of peanuts from four different market types, for the first time, and group them with principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). For PCA, PC1 and PC2 explained 87.655 % of the total variation and, according to the HCA of peanut samples, two main groups were determined. The total phenolic content changed 1.556 to 2.899 mg GAE/g. The lowest value have seen at Spanish merket type to determine the antioxidant activities of peanut samples were maked FRAP and DPPH assay, the lowest FRAP value (8.136 µmol FeSO47H2O/g sample) was seen at Valencia market type, the highest (14.004 µmol FeSO47H2O/g sample) was seen at Virginia market type. It was determined that the total flavonoid, total phenolic content, and antioxidant activities of the Virginia, Valencia, Spanish, and Runner market types included in the study were different from each other, and the Virginia market type showed superior characteristics compared to the others. The results obtained suggest that Virginia market type may be preferred more especially in peanut cultivation for food uses. It is thought that this study can be a source for future studies by eliminating a deficiency in the literature.

Extraction of Functional Compounds from Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus L.) by Deep Eutectic Solvents at Different Properties.

In this study, it was aimed to examine the capacity of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) with different contents to extract bioactive compounds from tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus L.) plant. For this reason, the total phenolic-flavonoid content, total proanthocyanidin content and antioxidant/antimicrobial activities of the prepared DES extracts were investigated, as well as the individual phenolic and individual amino acid profiles. According to the results, DES10 had the highest efficiency in terms of its capacity to extract individual phenolics (approximately 59 mg/100 g) and individual amino acids (approximately 2500 mg/kg), and also gave a higher yield compared to ethanol (approximately 44 mg/100 g for individual phenolics and about 19810 mg/kg for individual amino acids) and methanol (approximately 58 mg/100 g for individual phenolics and approximately 21430 mg/kg for individual amino acids). However, the total phenolic content, total flavonoid content and antioxidant activity values of DES extracts were determined between 59.09-77.50 mg GAE/100 g, 28.68-45.55 mg GAE/100 g and 42.96-146.86 mg TE/100 g, respectively. Therefore, it can be recommended to use these green solvents, which are known as environmentally friendly, as an alternative to organic solvents in the process of preparing extracts of this important medicinal plant in different areas.

Antioxidant, Antimicrobial Activities and Fatty Acid Compositions of Wild Berberis spp. by Different Techniques Combined with Chemometrics (PCA and HCA).

Interest in medicinal plants and fruits has increased in recent years due to people beginning to consume natural foods. This study aims to investigate the total phenolic flavonoid content, antioxidant activity, condensed tannin content, oil content, and fatty acid compositions of five local breeds of Berberis spp. from Bayburt, Turkey, and their antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. The fatty acid composition of samples was performed with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and the total fatty acid content of samples was between 6.12% and 8.60%. The main fatty acids in Berberis spp. samples were α-linolenic acid (32.85-37.88%) and linoleic acid (30.98-34.28%) followed by oleic acid (12.85-19.56%). Two antioxidant assays produced similar results, demonstrating that extracts of wild B. vulgaris L. had the highest ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) (621.02 µmol FeSO4.7H2O/g) and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) (0.10 SC50 mg/mL) values. According to principal component analysis (PCA), four components were determined. In addition, two main groups were determined according to hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), and wild and culture of B. vulgaris L. were in different subgroups. This is the first original report about the fatty acid composition and oil content of Berberis spp. grown in Bayburt, Turkey. The obtained results indicate that B. integerrima Bunge and B. vulgaris, which have especially remarkable fatty acid content, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activity, could be potential sources for these properties in different areas of use.