Saturday, October 3, 2009

Nigella sativa?

While researching resveratrol I came across studies on Nigella sativa

Based on these results, the inhibitory effects of essential oil on HNE activity are due to the presence of bioactive molecules, mainly carvacrol this compound is an inhibitor of HNE and could be considered as a natural antielastase agent and possible candidate for phytotherapy in the treatment of injuries that appear in some pathologic cases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema.
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The essential oil significantly inhibited neutrophil chemotaxis from 0.05 to 0.5 mg mL(-1). The inhibitory concentrations (IC(50)) showing 50% inhibition to induced neutrophil chemotaxis, and control movement were 0.08 and 0.07 mg mL(-1), respectively. The human neutrophil elastase secretion was inhibited by essential oil at a concentration dependent manner from 0.5 to 2.5 mg mL(-1). The components of essential oil are potent inhibitors for polymorpho nuclear leukocytes functions.The observed inhibition of neutrophil functions occurred via intracellular pathway. Active serine protease could be essential for neutrophil responding process and/or signal transduction pathways.





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