• Chemical evaluation of active compounds, antioxidant and antimicrobial effects of Trachyspermum Copticum seeds harvested in Yazd province
  • faeze sarafraz,1 Mohammad Javad Forouzani-Moghaddam,2,*
    1. Msc of Food Microbiology, School of Paramedical, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
    2. Msc of Food Microbiology, School of Paramedical, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran


  • Introduction: Trachyspermum copticum as a medicinal plant has many healing properties including: anti-flatulence, anti-vomiting, anti-rheumatic and expectorant. The aim of this study was to identify the active compounds, antioxidant and antimicrobial effects of Trachyspermum Copticum seeds harvested in Yazd province.
  • Methods: The essence of the seeds was first extracted by Clevenger apparatus. The active components of the essence were then separated and identified by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) methods. The anti-oxidant effect was determined by DPPH (2, 2diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) test as the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) and the total amount of phenolic components of the essence was quantified utilizing the Follin-Ciocalteu method and measurement of MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) of the product, anti-microbial activity.
  • Results: Our study shows that thymol (64.9%) and Terpinene (11.1%) were the most prevalent components of the essence. Also, the anti-oxidant activity and the total amount of phenolic component of the essence were 0.799µg/ml-1 and159.87 mg/g-1 resepectively and the standard AATCC microbial test showed inhibitory effect of bacteria, especially Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Streptococcus pneumoniae indicated acceptable properties.
  • Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the active ingredients of the native plant Trachyspermum copticum harvested in Yazd province are much higher than those found in Trachyspermum copticum harvested elsewhere.
  • Keywords: Trachyspermum Copticum, Therapeutic Effects, Seed essence, Antioxidant, Antimicrobial, Active ingred