Nigella sativa callus treated with sodium azide exhibit augmented antioxidant activity and DNA damage inhibition

Abstract

Nigella sativa L. (NS) is an herbaceous plant, possessing phytochemicals of therapeutic importance. Thymoquinone is one of the active phytochemicals of NS that confers noteworthy antioxidant properties. Sodium azide, an agent of abiotic stress, can modulates antioxidant system in plants. In the present investigation, sodium azide (0, 5 µM, 10 µM, 20 µM, 50 µM, 100 µM and 200 µM) doses administered to the in vitro NS callus cultures for production/modification of secondary metabolites with augmented activity. 200 µM sodium azide treated NS callus exhibited maximum peroxidase activity (1.286 ± 0.101 nanokatal mg−1 protein) and polyphenol oxidase activity (1.590 ± 0.110 nanokatal mg−1 protein), while 100 µM sodium azide treated NS callus for optimum catalase activity (1.250 ± 0.105 nanokatal mg−1 protein). Further, 200 µM sodium azide treated NS callus obtained significantly the highest phenolics (3.666 ± 0.475 mg g−1 callus fresh weight), 20 µM sodium azide treated NS callus, the highest flavonoids (1.308 ± 0.082 mg g−1 callus fresh weight) and 100 µM sodium azide treated NS callus, the highest carotenes (1.273 ± 0.066 mg g−1 callus fresh weight). However, NS callus exhibited a decrease in thymoquinone yield/content vis-à-vis possible emergence of its analog with 5.3 min retention time and an increase in antioxidant property. Treatment with 200 µM sodium azide registered significantly the lowest percent yield of callus extract (4.6 ± 0.36 mg g−1 callus fresh weight) and thymoquinone yield (16.65 ± 2.52 µg g−1 callus fresh weight) and content (0.36 ± 0.07 mg g−1 callus dry weight) and the highest antioxidant activity (3.873 ± 0.402%), signifying a negative correlation of the former with the latter. DNA damage inhibition (24.3 ± 1.7%) was recorded significantly maximum at 200 µM sodium azide treatment. Sodium azide treated callus also recorded emergence of a new peak at 5.3 min retention time (possibly an analog of thymoquinone with augmented antioxidant activity) whose area exhibits significantly negative correlation with callus extract yield and thymoquinone yield/content and positive correlation with antioxidant activity and in vitro DNA damage inhibition. Thus, sodium azide treatment to NS callus confers possible production of secondary metabolites or thymoquinone analog (s) responsible for elevated antioxidant property and inhibition to DNA damage. The formation of potent antioxidants through sodium azide treatment to NS could be worthy for nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries.

Alterations in leaf anatomy, quality, and quantity of flavonols and photosynthetic pigments in Nigella sativa L. subjected to drought and salinity stresses

“…The degree of oxidation and saturation in the heterocyclic ring could determine different kinds of flavonoids such as flavones (flavone, luteolin), flavonols (quercetin, kaempferol, myricetin), flavanones (flavanone, naringenin), and others (Pourcel et al, 2007). In an interesting study, Iqbal et al (2021) observed the enhancement of antioxidant and DNA damage inhibition potentials of N. sativa callus treated under a high dose of sodium azide that could be related to the elicitation of other secondary metabolites or the formation of thymoquinone analog(s) with more potent antioxidant activity. Regarding this new finding, a more thorough molecular study and different enzymatic/non-enzymatic antioxidant agents are needed under different doses of NaCl.…”

“…Efforts conducted to explain salinity or drought stress on secondary metabolites of this plant are very limited. However, different researchers studied the effect of salinity on fatty acids, phenolics, and antioxidant activity of this medicinal plant (Bourgou et al, 2010(Bourgou et al, , 2012Bensalem et al, 2020;Golkar et al, 2020;Iqbal et al, 2021). The impact of drought stress on phytochemical components was investigated by several studies (Bayati et al, 2020;Ghamarnia and Jalili, 2013;Mozzafari et al, 2000).…”

In Vitro Assessment of Anti-Adipogenic and Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Black Cumin (Nigella sativa L.) Seeds Extract on 3T3-L1 Adipocytes and Raw264.7 Macrophages

“…In Islamic culture, they bear the epithet "El Habba Saouda (seeds of blessing)" and are regarded as a remedy for nearly all ailments except death [12]. Experimentally, black cumin has demonstrated antioxidant [12][13][14], anti-inflammatory [15], immunomodulatory [15,16], anti-cancer [16,17], antibacterial [18,19], antifungal [20], and hypersensitivity-inhibiting [21] effects. Black cumin houses a rich spectrum of active compounds, including phenolic compounds, like thermoquinol glucoside and coumaroyl acid derivative, flavonoids, such as apigenin and quercetin, saponins comprising triterpene saponin and alpha-hederin, and alkaloids, like nigellimine and norargemonine [22].…”

Oral thymoquinone modulates cyclophosphamide‐induced testicular toxicity in adolescent Wistar rats

“…Researchers have identified that a lot of the pharmacological activities of Nigella sativa are credited to the most active nutrient—thymoquinone a bioactive flavonoid (Tavakkoli et al, 2017). The reported pharmacological activities of the plant include but are not limited to antioxidant (Iqbal et al, 2021), anti‐inflammatory (Bordoni et al, 2019), immunomodulatory (Khazdair et al, 2021; Shaterzadeh‐Yazdi et al, 2018), neuroprotective (Fanoudi et al, 2019; Landucci et al, 2021) and fertility‐enhancing (Razak et al, 2017; Shikhbahaei et al, 2018; Wani et al, 2022) capacities, among others. Hence, this experiment aims to examine the probable protective potential of thymoquinone against cyclophosphamide‐induced testicular toxicity using animal models.…”