TOXICITY AND ANTIBACTERIAL EFFECT OF MACE OF MYRISTICA FRAGRANS USED IN MOROCCAN GASTRONOMY: BIOCHEMICAL AND HISTOLOGICAL IMPACT JAZILA EL MALTI 1,3 , NOUREDDINE BOURHIM 2 and HAMID AMAROUCH 1 1 Laboratoire de Microbiologie Pharmacologie Biotechnologie et Environnement 2 Laboratoire de Biochimie et Biologie Moléculaire Faculté des Sciences Université Hassan II – Aïn Chock Km 8 Route d’El Jadida BP, 5366, Casablanca, Morocco Accepted for Publication October 18, 2007 ABSTRACT The aril of the plant Myristica fragrans is one of the most broadly used spices in Moroccan gastronomy. This research demonstrated its antimicro- bial activity against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial species. Likewise, its toxicity was investigated on Swiss albino mice. Mice were treated orally with 0.003 and 0.3 mg/day during 7 days. Plasmatic markers and antioxidant defense systems were assessed and histological alterations evaluated. Our results showed a significant increase in creatine phosphoki- nase level. The microscopic evaluation showed that mace induces morpho- logical perturbation in mice’s liver. The results also showed an inhibitory effect of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase and an important increase in the level of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, succinate dehydrogenase activities and no change in catalase activities. All of these results show that M. fragrans at 0.3 mg/g in mice affects energy metabolism and oxidative stress. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Mace can be used as a natural antioxidant and preservative in the food industry to increase the shelf life of foodstuffs. 3 Corresponding author. TEL: +212-22-23-06-80/84; FAX: +212-22-23-06-74; EMAIL: eljazila@ yahoo.fr Journal of Food Safety 28 (2008) 422–441. All Rights Reserved. © 2008, The Author(s) Journal compilation © 2008, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 422