Journal of Research and Development
Open Access

Abstract

Bench Top Bioassay of Anti-tumor Activity of Black Cumin (Nigella sativa) Oil and Bee Honey Using the Indigenous Strain of Agrobacterium tumefaciens SDB0012

Alseed HAMG, Elkedir AEE and Ahmed RAM

Sudan is endowed with natural products having anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-cancer activities. Among these, bee honey and black cumin oil are recommended by botanist to be used as antibacterial and anti-cancer products; in addition to other health uses. In this study both bee honey, crude oil of black cumin and a mixture of them at a rate of 1:1 were studied for anti-bacterial and anti-tumor activities using the potato disc bioassay at the Microbiology Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, University of Gezira. The indigenous strain SDB0012 used in this study was extracted from Tuti Island-Khartoun State and purified since 2005. The major characteristic of this strain was given by Yousif. Whereas, bee honey and black cumin oil were collected in Wad Medani market. Moreover, the crude oil of the black cumin was subjected to fractionation using thin layer chromatography and potato disc bioassay to identify the active anti-tumor components in these trials, the Complete Randomized Design was used with four replicates. Results indicated that both bee honey and the crude extract of the black cumin had no anti-bacterial activities against the indigenous strain of Agrobacterium tumefaciens “SDB0012”, which characterized by having resistance against penicillin (30 mg), chloramphenicol (30 mg) and ciprofloxacin (30 mg). Both bee honey and black cumin had anti-tumor activities with inhibition of 40% and 55%, respectively. The mixture of bee honey and cumin oil extract (1:1) gave 100% inhibition of tumor on the potato discs. Only one out of the eight components separated from the oil black cumin crude extract in thin layer chromatography showed complete inhibition of tumors and was considered as the active anti-tumor component of the black cumin.