Utilization of Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans Houtt.) Seed Hydrodistillation Time to Produce Essential Oil Fractions with Varied Compositions and Pharmacological Effects

Abstract

The intent of this study was to utilize distillation timeframes (DT) of nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) essential oil (EO) to generate fractions with differential chemical compositions and bioactivity. Ten fractions were captured at the following distillation timeframes: 0.0–0.5, 0.5–1.0, 1.0–2.5, 2.5–5.0, 5.0–10, 10–30, 30–60, 60–90, 90–120, and 120–240 min. In addition, a control EO was collected from a straight 0–240 min non-stop distillation. ANOVA and advanced regression modeling revealed that the produced EO fractions possess substantial variation in the concentration of potentially desired compounds. The concentrations (%) of α-phellandrene, 3-carene, p-cymene, limonene, α-thujene, α-pinene, camphene, sabinene, β-pinene, and myrcene decreased, while the concentrations (%) of α-terpinene, γ-terpinene, terpinolene, and myristicin increased in later DT fractions. Nutmeg EO showed some antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum D6, but did not exhibit significant antifungal activity. In general, nutmeg seed oil yields increased with an increase of DT. These results may be utilized by industries using nutmeg EO.

Pharmacological and Therapeutic Potential of Myristicin: A Literature Review

“…The inhibition of growth promoted by these substances was evaluated by means of disk diffusion assays, microdilution, determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and in silico assays. Different species of bacteria and fungi were tested [ 8 , 22 , 35 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 ].…”

“…Some studies showed that the essential oils of Heracleum transcaucasicum and Heracleum anisactis (containing 96.87% and 95.15% of myristicin, respectively), the Athamanta sicula plant extract, as well as the myristicin isolated from the plant, showed weak or absent activity against the species tested: Staphylococcus aureus , Staphylococcus epidermidis , Escherichia coli , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Candida albicans and Candida tropicalis . In a study that tested the essential oil of nutmeg with different concentrations of myristicin, it was found that those with higher amounts (ranging from 26% to 38%) had no inhibitory effect against Escherichia coli, Aspergillus fumigatus , and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Klebsiella pneumoniae , and were slightly active against Cryptococcus neoformans [ 8 , 22 , 35 , 44 ].…”

Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans Houtt.) essential oil: A review on its composition, biological, and pharmacological activities

“…The variation in EO depends upon the source and extraction method (Table 1). MFEO was extracted by various methods including, hydrodistillation (Ashokkumar et al, 2022;Carolina & Maman, 2016;Ibrahim et al, 2020;Mickus et al, 2021;Muchtaridi et al, 2010;Nikolic et al, 2021;Waman, 2020), steam distillation (Al-Jumaily & Al-Amiry, 2012;Carolina & Maman, 2016;Purseglove et al, 1981), microwave-assisted hydrodistillation (Sagarika et al, 2018), and CO 2 supercritical fluid extraction (Hanif et al, 2010). Ashokkumar et al (2022) found that the Western Ghats, southern India, grown nutmeg leaf EO yield (3.2%) was greater than that found in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, grown nutmeg leaf (0.7%; Carolina & Maman, 2016).…”

Inhibition of Bacterial Efflux Pumps by Crude Extracts and Essential Oil from Myristica fragrans Houtt. (Nutmeg) Seeds against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

“…is a well-known medicinal plant of interest for new drug development in tropical countries. A correlation has been indicated between the chemical compounds in nutmeg and antimicrobial activity against pathogenic infections [ 27 ]. Antimicrobial activity of nutmeg against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria, and fungi has been reported.…”