Nutmeg, Myristica fragrans, is known for its culinary and medicinal values. The nutmeg pericarp, abundant during the production of the seed, is also used in food and beverage preparations. In this study, the pericarp of M. fragrans was evaluated for its bioactive components using in vitro antioxidant and anti-inflammatory assays. The hexane, ethyl acetate and methanolic extracts inhibited lipid peroxidation (LPO) by 82.5, 70.1 and 73.2%, and cyclooxygenase enzymes COX-1 by 44, 44 and 42% and COX-2 by 47, 41 and 36%, respectively, at 100 μg/mL. The bioassay-guided purifications of extracts yielded 20 compounds belonged to neolignans (0.13%), phenylpropanoids (0.28%), phenolic aldehyde (0.35%), triterpenoids (0.06%), triglycerides (0.20%), sugars (10.2%) and steroids (0.49%). Pure isolates 1–5 inhibited LPO by 70–99% and 3–12 inhibited COX-1 and -2 enzymes by 37–49%. This is the first report on the bioassay-guided characterization of constituents in nutmeg pericarp. Our results support the medicinal claims of nutmeg pericarp.
DuanL, TaoH-W, HaoX-J, GuQ-Q, ZhuW-M. (2009) Cytotoxic and antioxidative phenolic compounds from the traditional Chinese medicinal plant, Myristica fragrans. Planta Medica, 75, 1241–1245;
2.
Al-RawiSS, IbrahimAH, MajidASA, MajidAMSA, Ab KadirMO. (2013) Comparison of yields and quality of nutmeg butter obtained by extraction of nutmeg rind by Soxhlet and supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2). Journal of Food Engineering, 119, 595–601.
3.
SuL, YinJ-J, CharlesD, ZhouK, MooreJ, YuL. (2007) Total phenolic contents, chelating capacities, and radical-scavenging properties of black peppercorn, nutmeg, rosehip, cinnamon and oregano leaf. Food Chemistry, 100, 990–997;
4.
CallisteCA, KozlowskiD, DurouxJL, ChampavierY, ChuliaAJ, TrouillasP. (2010) A new antioxidant from wild nutmeg. Food Chemistry, 118, 489–496.
5.
MuellerM, HobigerS, JungbauerA. (2010) Anti-inflammatory activity of extracts from fruits, herbs and spices. Food Chemistry, 122, 987–996;
6.
CaoG-Y, XuW, YangX-W, GonzalezFJ, LiF. (2015) New neolignans from the seeds of Myristica fragrans that inhibit nitric oxide production. Food Chemistry, 173, 231–237.
7.
ChoJY, ChoiGJ, SonSW, JangKS, LimHK, LeeSO, SungND, ChoKY, KimJC. (2007) Isolation and antifungal activity of lignans from Myristica fragrans against various plant pathogenic fungi. Pest Management Science, 63, 935–940.
8.
HanKL, ChoiJS, LeeJY, SongJ, JoeMK, JungMH, HwangJK. (2008) Therapeutic potential of peroxisome proliferators–activated receptor-alpha/gamma dual agonist with alleviation of endoplasmic reticulum stress for the treatment of diabetes. Diabetes, 57, 737–745.
9.
LeeBK, KimJH, JungJW, ChoiJW, HanES, LeeSH, KoKH, RyuJH. (2005) Myristicin-induced neurotoxicity in human neuroblastoma SK-N-SH cells. Toxicology Letters, 157, 49–56.
10.
SulaimanSF, OoiKL. (2012) Antioxidant and anti food-borne bacterial activities of extracts from leaf and different fruit parts of Myristica fragrans Houtt. Food Control, 25, 533–536.
11.
ChooLC, WongSM, LiewKY. (1999) Essential oil of nutmeg pericarp. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 79, 1954–1957;
12.
FrancisKS, SureshE, NairMS. (2014) Chemical constituents from Myristica fragrans fruit. Natural Product Research, 28, 1664–1668.
13.
LiuY, NairMG. (2010) An efficient and economical MTT assay for determining the antioxidant activity of compounds and extracts. Journal of Natural Products, 77, 1193–1195;
14.
ZhangC-R, SchutzkiRE, NairMG. (2013) Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds in the popular landscape plant Berberis thunbergii var. atropurpurea. Natural Product Communications, 8, 165–168.
15.
AroraA, NairMG, StrasburgGM. (1998) Structure-activity relationships for antioxidant activities of a series of flavonoids in a liposomal system. Free Radical Biology & Medicine, 24, 1355–1363.
16.
MeadeEA, SmithWL, DewittDL. (1993) Differential inhibition of prostaglandin endoperoxide synthase (cyclooxygenase) isozymes by aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 268, 6610–6614.
CaoG-Y, YangX-W, XuW, LiF. (2013) New inhibitors of nitric oxide production from the seeds of Myristica fragrans. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 62, 167–171.
19.
BragaACH, ZacchinoS, BadanoH, SierraMG, RúvedaEA. (1984) 13C NMR spectral and conformational analysis of 8-O-4′ neolignans. Phytochemistry, 23, 2025–2028.
20.
KasaharaH, MiyazawaM, KameokaH. (1995) Absolute configuration of 8-O-4′-neolignans from Myristica fragrans. Phytochemistry, 40, 1515–1517.
21.
ZacchinoS, BadanoH. (1988) Enantioselective synthesis and absolute configuration assignment of erythro(3,4,5-trimethoxy-7-hydroxy-1′-allyl-2′, 6′-dimethoxy)-8.0.4′-neolignan, isolated from mace (Myristica fragrans). Journal of Natural Products, 51, 1261–1265.
22.
DuS-S, YangK, WangC-F, YouC-X, GengZ-F, GuoS-S, DengZ-W, LiuZ-L. (2014) Chemical constituents and activities of the essential oil from Myristica fragrans against Cigarette Beetle Lasioderma serricorne. Chemistry & Biodiversity, 11, 1449–1456.
23.
KavithaA, PrabhakarP, VijayalakshmiM, VenkateswarluY. (2010) Purification and biological evaluation of the metabolites produced by Streptomyces sp. TK-VL_333. Research in Microbiology, 161, 335–345.
24.
SeoS, UomoriA, YoshimuraY, TakedaK, SetoH, EbizukaY, NoguchiH, SankawaU. (1988) Biosynthesis of sitosterol, cycloartenol, and 24-methylenecycloartanol in tissue cultures of higher plants and of ergosterol in yeast from [1,2-13C2]- and [2-13C2H3]-acetate and [5-13C2H2]MVA. Journal of the Chemical Society, Perkin Transactions 1, 2407–2414.
25.
KuoY-H, LinS-T, WuR-E. (1989) Three new lignans from the nutmeg of Myristica cagayanesis. Chemical & Pharmaceutical Bulletin, 37, 2310–2312.
26.
ChoiYH, KimHK, LinthorstHJM, HollanderJG, LefeberAWM, ErkelensC, NuzillardJ-M, VerpoorteR. (2006) NMR metabolomics to revisit the tobacco mosaic virus infection in Nicotiana tabacum leaves. Journal of Natural Products, 69, 742–748.
27.
ZhangH, ChenF, WangX, YaoH-Y. (2006) Evaluation of antioxidant activity of parsley (Petroselinum crispum) essential oil and identification of its antioxidant constituents. Food Research International, 39, 833–839;
28.
BarrosLFL, BarisonA, SalvadorMJ, de Mello-SilvaR, CabralEC, EberlinMN, StefanelloMÉA. (2009) Constituents of the leaves of Magnolia ovata. Journal of Natural Products, 72, 1529–1532;
29.
AdianiV, GuptaS, ChatterjeeS, VariyarPS, SharmaA (2015) Activity guided characterization of antioxidant components from essential oil of nutmeg (Myristica fragrans). Journal of Food Science and Technology-Mysore, 52, 221–230.
CuongTD, HungTM, NaM, HaDT, KimJC, LeeD, RyooS, LeeJH, ChoiJS, MinBS. (2011) Inhibitory effect on NO production of phenolic compounds from Myristica fragrans. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 21, 6884–6887;
32.
LeeJY, ParkW. (2011) Anti-inflammatory effect of myristicin on RAW 264.7 macrophages stimulated with polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid. Molecules, 16, 7132–7142.
