Abstract
The present study was designed to determine the glaucine, quercetin and kaempferol contents in the root and shoot parts of Nigella arvensis, treated for 21 days with different concentrations of the nanoparticles (NPs), including titanium dioxide (TiO(2)), alumina (Al(2)O(3)) and nickel oxide (NiO) by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results showed a significant increase in the total flavonoid and total alkaloid content in treated plants. Glaucine content in shoot parts was significantly higher than the root parts. The highest amount of glaucine was obtained in shoots and roots exposed to NiONPs at concentrations of 1000 and 2500 mg/L with up to 3.2 and 2.6 fold increase compared to the control group, respectively. The maximum content of quercetin was observed in the shoot and root parts under 50 mg/L NiONPs with 2.2 and 1.8 fold increase compared to the control group, respectively. The kaempferol content was significantly decreased in all treatment, except for 1000 mg/L NiONPs treatment in the root parts, which was 2.9 fold higher than the control group. Apart from the toxic effects of some NPs, our findings suggest that the NPs at specific levels can be considered as new and appropriate elicitors for in vitro production and increasing the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites to use in pharmaceutical applications.