• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.3735-3742
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• 2013

Background: Cardamom (Elettaria cardamom), also known as "Queen of Spices", has been traditionally used as a culinary ingredient due to its pleasant aroma and taste. In addition to this role, studies on cardamom have demonstrated cancer chemopreventive potential in in vitro and in vivo systems. Nevertheless, the precise poly-pharmacological nature of naturally occurring chemo-preventive compounds in cardamom has still not been fully demystified. Methods:In this study, an effort has been made to identify the proapoptopic, anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative, anti-invasive and anti-angiogenic targets of Cardamom's bioactive principles (eucalyptol, alpha-pinene, beta-pinene, d-limonene and geraniol) by employing a dual reverse virtual screening protocol. Experimentally proven target information of the bioactive principles was annotated from bioassay databases and compared with the virtually screened set of targets to evaluate the reliability of the computational identification. To study the molecular interaction pattern of the anti-tumor action, molecular docking simulation was performed with Auto Dock Pyrx. Interaction studies of binding pose of eucalyptol with Caspase 3 were conducted to obtain an insight into the interacting amino acids and their inter-molecular bondings. Results:A prioritized list of target proteins associated with multiple forms of cancer and ranked by their Fit Score (Pharm Mapper) and descending 3D score (Reverse Screen 3D) were obtained from the two independent inverse screening platforms. Molecular docking studies exploring the bioactive principle targeted action revealed that H- bonds and electrostatic interactions forms the chief contributing factor in inter-molecular interactions associated with anti-tumor activity. Eucalyptol binds to the Caspase 3 with a specific framework that is well-suited for nucleophilic attacks by polar residues inside the Caspase 3 catalytic site. Conclusion:This study revealed vital information about the poly-pharmacological anti-tumor mode-of-action of essential oils in cardamom. In addition, a probabilistic set of anti-tumor targets for cardamom was generated, which can be further confirmed by in vivo and in vitro experiments.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.1590-1595
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• 2009

Alternative methods for controlling bacterial endospore contamination are desired in a range of industries and applications. Attention has recently turned to natural products, such as essential oils, which have sporicidal activity. In this study, a selection of essential oils was investigated to identify those with activity against Bacillus subtilis spores. Spores were exposed to 13 essential oils, and surviving spores were enumerated. Cardamom, tea tree, and juniper leaf oils were the most effective, reducing the number of viable spores by 3 logs at concentrations above 1%. Sporicidal activity was enhanced at high temperatures ($60^{\circ}C$) or longer exposure times (up to 1 week). Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis identified the components of the active essential oils. However, none of the major oil components exhibited equivalent activity to the whole oils. The fact that oil components, either alone or in combination, did not show the same level of sporicidal activity as the complete oils suggested that minor components may be involved, or that these act synergistically with major components. Scanning electron microscopy was used to examine spores after exposure to essential oils and suggested that leakage of spore contents was the likely mode of sporicidal action. Our data have shown that essential oils exert sporicidal activity and may be useful in applications where bacterial spore reduction is desired.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.743-757
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• 2023

The formulation of a novel functional fresh apple juice enriched with dietary prebiotic fiber (inulin or polydextrose), ginger extract (GE), and cardamom essential oil (CEO) was carried out based on a combined D-optimal design. In the first stage, sensory evaluation was performed to screen and select the optimum sample for further experiments. The sensory evaluation showed that the sample containing inulin 0.25 g/100 g GE and 0.03 g/100 g CEO had the highest organoleptic score. In the second stage, various chemical experiments, including pH, acidity, formalin index, total phenol, flavonoids, antioxidant capacity, and vitamin C content, were evaluated on the selected enriched apple juices. The addition of GE and CEO caused changes in nutritional characteristics, including antioxidant capacity, total phenol, flavonoids, vitamin C, and IC50, from 35 g/100 g, 350 mg GAE/g, 17 mg/L, 370 mg/kg, and 1,800 mg/kg to 45 g/100 g, 460 mg GAE/g, 21 mg/L, 420 mg/kg, and 1,200 mg/kg respectively. The steady shear flow and dynamic oscillatory shear rheological tests were also performed on the screened samples, and results showed that the addition of dietary fiber in apple juices increased the apparent viscosity, storage modulus, loss modulus, and complex viscosity. In general, adding plant extracts and processed essential oil to apple juice increased the nutritional-nutraceutical value and sensory attributes of apple juice.