Nigella Sativa as an Antiglycating Agent  for Human Serum Albumin

Tariq Mahmood; Shagufta Moin; Abul Faiz Faizy; Sufia Naseem; Shazia Aman

Volume : II, Issue : IV, April - 2013

Nigella Sativa as an Antiglycating Agent for Human Serum Albumin

Tariq Mahmood, Shagufta Moin, Abul Faiz Faizy, Sufia Naseem, Shazia Aman

Abstract :

Hyperglycemia and the accumulation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) in tissues and serum have important roles in diabetic complications. Therefore, the identification of anti-glycation compounds is attracting considerable interest. In this study the antioxidant activity of ethanolic extract of Nigella sativa seeds and the interaction of human serum albumin (HSA) with glucose in the absence and presence of extract was studied by tryptophan fluorescence, AGE fluorescence and SDS-PAGE. The results indicate that Nigella sativa extract has significant amount of total phenolic content and reducing power. Furthermore, it also causes conformational changes in HSA, decrease in AGEs formation, increase in tryptophan fluorescence and decreased cross linking of proteins. Hence, it can be deduced that Nigella sativa has a potent antioxidant and antiglycating activity, which can be employed to delay or prevent the secondary complications of diabetes mellitus.