Effects of Heracleum persicum and Nigella sativa L. alcoholic extracts on insulin amyloid formation

Discovering and describing the critical role of proteins in contrast to disease and defects causing by their inactivity is a major interest for scientific studies. Amyloid aggregation and the diseases caused by them, known as neurodegenerative diseases, reveal new aspect of proteins roles in pathogenicity. Due to lack of clear treatment to these age-related diseases, prevention of amyloid formation would be the most practical way to deal with them.

In this research, we analyzed the effects of Heracleum persicum Desf. ex Fisch., C.A.Mey. & Avé-Lall. and Nigella sativa L. alcoholic extracts on insulin amyloid formation. Human insulin (HI) amyloid formation was analyzed under specific pH and temperature conditions by Thioflavin T (ThT) assay and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) while treating with different concentrations of H. persicum and N. sativa alcoholic extracts.

Our results reveal that the alcoholic extracts of H. persicum and N. sativa have significant preventing effects on HI amyloid formation. Considering the long history of these medicinal plant usage in Iranian and Islamic cultures and the presence of antioxidant and anticonvulsant compounds in them, and according to the data obtained from this study, we strongly suggest that these two herbs are suitable candidates as sources of amyloid aggregation prevention compounds.