Pharmacological activities of differential parts of selected Essential Indian Spices

Abstract

The role of plants in human health has extensively revealed due to the emergence of numerous advancements in the medicine and nutrition disciplines. The awareness of the benefits of plants in food as wealthy additives poses researchers to pursue for discovering the influence of such ingredients to the health of the human beings. Spices and herbs are well known food ingredients, which enhances the flavour and aroma of the supplemented foods. Botanically, spices are one class of the aromatic plants; they are mainly present in the tropical provinces. Spices play an important role as flavouring agents in the diet and are used throughout the world. Spices refers to dried part of plant that contains volatiles oils or aromatic flavours such as buds (cloves), bark (cinnamon), root (ginger), berries (black pepper), seeds (cumin, coriander). Spices can be used as medicine because they are natural products easily absorbed by our bodies and generally do not have any adverse effects. Herbal remedies are an important source for the discovery of new antibiotics. Highest phenolic content was observed for ethanol extract of Bunium bulbocastanum (374.28±0.22 µg/mg GAE) and highest flavonoid content was observed for ethanol extract of Piper nigrum (123.58±0.32 µg/mg QE). Cuminum cyminum possessed effective inhibition against gram negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Proteus vulgaris) and the zone of inhibition were found to be 23 mm at 100 µg/mL concentration respectively. The DPPH˙ radical scavenging activity was found to be higher for Syzygium aromaticum among the tested spices with 75.37±0.48% at 120 µg/mL concentration and the IC50 value was 53.54 µg/mL concentration respectively. The Fe3+ reduction was found to be higher for Syzygium aromaticum among the tested spices with 99.14±0.26% at 120 µg/mL concentration and the RC50 value was 12.81 µg/mL concentration respectively. The α-amylase enzyme inhibition was found to be higher for Piper nigrum among the tested spices with 67.47±0.40% at 120 µg/mL concentration and the IC50 value was 44.69 µg/mL concentration respectively.