Anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of a new cucurbitacin isolated from Citrullus colocynthis seeds

In vivo biological screening of extract and bioactive compound from Ficus benghalensis L. and their in silico molecular docking analysis

BACKGROUND

Ficus benghalensis has been used by local health care practitioners to treat pain, inflammation, rheumatism, and other health issues.

OBJECTIVE

In this study, the crude extract and diverse fractions, along with the isolated compound of F. benghalensis were examined for their roles as muscle relaxants, analgesics, and sedatives.

METHODS

The extract and isolated compound 1 were screened for muscle-relaxant, analgesic, and sedative actions. The acetic acid-mediated writhing model was utilized for analgesic assessment, the muscle relaxant potential was quantified through traction and inclined plan tests, and the open field test was applied for sedative effects.

RESULTS

The extract/fractions (25, 50, and 100 mg/kg) and isolated compounds (2.5, 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg) were tested at various doses. A profound (p< 0.001) reduce in the acetic acid-mediated writhing model was observed against carpachromene (64.44%), followed by ethyl acetate (60.67%) and methanol (58.42%) fractions. A marked (p< 0.001) muscle relaxant activity was noticed against the isolated compound (71.09%), followed by ethyl acetate (66.98%) and methanol (67.10%) fractions. Regarding the sedative effect, a significant action was noted against the isolated compound (71.09%), followed by ethyl acetate (66.98%) and methanol (67.10%) fractions. Furthermore, the binding modes of the isolated compounds were explored using molecular docking. The molecular docking study revealed that the isolated compound possessed good binding affinity for COX2 and GABA. Our isolated compound may possess inhibitory activity against COX2 and GABA receptors.

CONCLUSION

The extract and isolated compounds of Ficus benghalensis can be used as analgesics, muscle relaxants, and sedatives. However, detailed molecular and functional analyses are essential to ascertain their function as muscle relaxants, analgesics, and sedatives.

Two new cucurbitane-type triterpenoid saponins from the fruit of Citrullus colocynthis

Two new cucurbitane-type triterpenoid saponins, 2,20β,22β-trihydroxy-16α,23(R)-epoxycucurbita-1,5,24-triene-3,11-dione 2-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (1), 2,20β,22α-trihydroxy-16α,23(S)-epoxycucurbita-1,5,11,24-tetraene-3-one 2-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (2) were isolated from the fruit of Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad. Their structures were elucidated by mass spectrometry, IR, 1D, and 2D NMR spectroscopy, etc. Besides, both of the compounds showed significant hepatoprotective activities at 10 μM against paracetamol-induced HepG2 cell damage.

Total cucurbitacins from Herpetospermum pedunculosum pericarp do better than Hu-lu-su-pian (HLSP) in its safety and hepatoprotective efficacy

The pericarp of Herpetospermum pedunculosum (HPP) has traditionally been used for treating jaundice and hepatitis. However, the specific hepatoprotective components and their safety/efficacy profiles remain unclear. This study aimed to characterize the total cucurbitacins (TCs) extracted from HPP and evaluate their hepatoprotective potential. As a reference, Hu-lu-su-pian (HLSP), a known hepatoprotective drug containing cucurbitacins, was used for comparison of chemical composition, effects, and safety. Molecular networking based on UHPLC-MS/MS identified cucurbitacin B, isocucurbitacin B, and cucurbitacin E as the major components in TCs, comprising 70.3%, 26.1%, and 3.6% as determined by RP-HPLC, respectively. TCs treatment significantly reversed CCl4-induced metabolic changes associated with liver damage in a dose-dependent manner, impacting pathways including energy metabolism, oxidative stress and phenylalanine metabolism, and showed superior efficacy to HLSP. Safety evaluation also showed that TCs were safe, with higher LD50 and no observable adverse effect level (NOAEL) values than HLSP. The median lethal dose (LD50) and NOAEL values of TCs were 36.21 and 15 mg/kg body weight (BW), respectively, while the LD50 of HLSP was 14 mg/kg BW. In summary, TCs extracted from HPP demonstrated promising potential as a natural hepatoprotective agent, warranting further investigation into synergistic effects of individual cucurbitacin components.

Citrullus colocynthis (bitter apple): bioactive compounds, nutritional profile, nutraceutical properties and potential food applications: a review

Herbal remedies and related foods provide healing properties for a range of diseases, resulting in a higher standard of living. Bitter apple is extremely beneficial due to its bioactive and nutraceutical compounds. Increasing awareness among consumers across the world about this unique fruit’s properties may provide huge opportunities for the supplier of herbal products as well as their use in the food industry. It has significant applications in the field of food technology. This review focused on the important features of bitter apple mainly, bioactive compounds, their mode of action, medical applications, chemical characteristics, chemical compounds, and the latest research on the pharmacological interventions of bitter apple extracts. This review also highlights the potential use of bitter apples in the food industry as well as their application in nanotechnology for the formation of nanoparticles.

Graphical Abstract

Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad (Bitter Apple Fruit): Promising Traditional Uses, Pharmacological Effects, Aspects, and Potential Applications

Health consciousness and increased knowledge about the side effects of synthetic drugs have enhanced interest in traditional medicines. Medicinal plants offer cures for various diseases, leading to improved living standards. This has brought ethnomedicinal studies into the spotlight and increased demand for herb-based medicines. Citrullus colocynthis is an herbaceous plant containing an abundance of nutrients that play a key role in the improvement of wellbeing. C. colocynthis has many biological properties, such as antioxidative, hypoglycemic, antibacterial, anti-cancerous, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, gastrointestinal tract, reproduction, protection, anti-microbial, antidiabetic, hypolipidemic, antineoplastic, profibrinolytic, anti-allergic, pesticidal, and immune-stimulatory. There are numerous bioactive compounds like cucurbitacin, flavonoids, and polyphenols in C. colocynthis that give it medicinal properties. Herein, we have extensively compiled, reviewed, and analyzed significant information on C. colocynthhis from the best published available evidence in PubMed, Scopus (Embase), Web of Science (Web of Knowledge), Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar, etc. Scientific literature evidenced that owing to the bioactive constituents, including cucurbitacin, polyphenols, flavonoids, and other potent molecules, C. colocynthis has many pharmacological and physiological functions. It possesses multi-beneficial applications in treating various disorders of humans and animals. So, the primary purpose of this comprehensive review is to provide an overview of the findings of positive impacts and risks of C. colocynthis consumption on human health, especially in poultry and veterinary fields. In the future, this narrative article will be aware of discoveries about the potential of this promising natural fruit and its bioactive compounds as the best nutraceuticals and therapeutic drugs in veterinary and human medicine.

Progress on Genetic Improvement and Analysis of Bottle Gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl.] for Agronomic Traits, Nutrient Compositions, and Stress Tolerance: A Review

Bottle gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl.] is an important multi-purpose cucurbit crop grown for its leaf, fruit, and seed. It is widely cultivated and used for human consumption in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) providing vital human nutrition and serving as food security crop. There is wide genetic variation among bottle gourd genetic resources in Africa for diverse qualitative and quantitative attributes for effective variety design, product development, and marketing. However, the crop is under- researched and -utilized, and improved varieties are yet to be developed and commercialized in the region. Therefore, the objective of this review is to provide the progress on bottle gourd genetic improvement and genetic analysis targeting agronomic and horticultural attributes, nutritional composition, biotic, and abiotic stress tolerance to guide current and future cultivar development, germplasm access, and conservation in SSA. The first section of the paper presents progress on breeding of bottle gourd for horticultural traits, agronomic performance, nutritional and anti-nutritional composition, and biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. This is followed by important highlights on key genetic resources of cultivated and wild bottle gourd for demand driven breeding. Lastly, the review summaries advances in bottle gourd genomics, genetic engineering and genome editing. Information presented in this paper should aid bottle gourd breeders and agronomists to develop and deploy new generation and promising varieties with farmer- and market -preferred attributes.

Potential of Citrullus colocynthis L. Schrad. Immature Seed Extracts as Food Preservative against a Fungal Mycotoxigenic Contaminant

The world of plant extracts and natural compounds have long been regarded as a promise land for the individuation of healthy alternatives to chemical preservatives, against microbial contamination, in food and feed commodities. A plethora of aromatic and medicinal plant species have been studied from decades to explore their antimicrobial and antioxidant properties, in order to both validate their ethnobotanical use for healing microbial illnesses and assess their suitability as food preservation agents. In fact, after terrestrialization and during the following evolutionary pathway, plants had to develop chemical compounds—constitutive and/or induced—for defence against specific pathogens, therefore becoming a potential source of new natural products usable with antimicrobial purposes. Aside from the most common contaminants that could occur in foodstuff, mycotoxigenic fungal species represent a big concern, mainly in cereals and derived products: aflatoxins in particular are the most dreaded among such toxic and cancerogenic secondary metabolites, and the control of the main producer Aspergillus flavus is currently one of the most pursued goals in the field of food safety. As aromatic and medicinal plants have a long history of use in the Mediterranean basin for both food preservation and pest control in crops, the exploitation of native species for the control of mycotoxigenic phytopathogens is almost rationale. The present work provides novel insights into the possible use of C. colocynthis seed organic extracts as antimycotoxigenic additives, demonstrating, for some of them, a feasible application as crop and food protectants with specific regard to aflatoxin contamination. Additionally, the evaluation of their cytotoxic potential and nitric oxide production on human cell lines has been reported for the first time.

Citrullus colocynthis Seeds: A Potential Natural Immune Modulator Source for Broiler Reared under Chronic Heat Stress

Simple Summary

Chronic heat-stress exposure directly affects broiler immune response. Immunosuppression was demonstrated in broiler exposed to chronic heat stress with deterioration in humoral and cell-mediated immune responses. Natural immune modulator material is considered as a safe material for human consumption of poultry products. Citrullus colocynthis (CC) is a natural herb plant that has traditionally been used in folk remediation. Anti-diabetic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory attributes are some of the CC medical properties. The present study aims to investigate the immune modulator potentials of CC seeds supplementation to chronically heat- stressed-exposed broilers. Results demonstrated that CC seeds supplementation to heat-stressed broilers was able to alleviate the negative impacts of heat stress on broiler immune responses and antioxidant status. Thus, CC seeds are suggested to be added to broilers reared under heat stress in order to improve the immune response and consequently ameliorate productivity.

Abstract

There is an extensive search for natural products that can be introduced to broiler rations to improve performance, especially during the unfavorable breeding conditions. Under heat-stress conditions, the immune response seriously deteriorates, which consequently impairs broiler production performance. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the potentials of Citrullus colocynthis seeds (CCs) supplementation to modulate the immune response of broilers subjected to chronic heat stress. A total of 300 Cobb-500 male broiler chickens aged 21 days were randomly divided into two equal groups and reared under either thermo-neutral condition (24 ± 1 °C) or subjected to cyclic heat stress (34 ± 1 °C for 8 h). Each group was further divided into two groups (5 replicate × 15 chicks) and was fed either the basal diet or the basal diet with 0.1% CCs supplementation. The results showed that heat stress impaired the production performance by lowering the final body weight and feed intake as well as impairing feed conversion. The levels of stress markers (i.e., malondialdehyde, tumor necrosis factor-α and corticosterone) increased (p < 0.05), whereas the activity of antioxidant enzymes decreased in broilers exposed to heat stress. Further, heat stress caused direct suppression of broiler humoral and cell-mediated immune responses. The stimulating index of T and B lymphocytes proliferation, as well as the antibody titer against sheep red blood cells, were significantly (p < 0.05) reduced by heat-stress exposure. However, CCs supplementation to broilers subjected to heat stress improved (p < 0.05) the final body weight, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio (FCR), compared to the non-supplemented stressed group. The cellular and cell-mediated immune response indicators significantly enhanced (p < 0.05) with CCs supplementation. Supplementation of CCs to broilers reared under similar environmental conditions elevated the total white blood cells (TWBCs) count and the broiler stimulating index of T and B lymphocytes. It can be concluded that CC seeds can be effectively used to stimulate the immune response and improve the production performance of broilers reared under heat-stress condition.

Natural Treatments for Fissure in Ano Used by Traditional Persian Scholars, Razi (Rhazes) and Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

Most cases of chronic fissure do not respond to medical treatment. Razi and Ibn Sina were 2 of the best-known scientists of ancient Persia. The purpose of this study was to find out new scientific evidence in modern medicine about their recommendations, in order to find certain clues to conduct useful researches in the future. First, treatments of anal fissure mentioned by Razi and Ibn Sina were reviewed. Then, literature search was made in electronic databases including PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Management of anal fissure according to Razi's and Ibn Sina's practices is done based on 3 interventions: lifestyle modifications, drug treatments, and manual procedures. Almost all remedies suggested by Razi and Ibn Sina have shown their effects on fissure in ano via several mechanisms of action in many in vitro and in vivo studies; Still there is lack of human studies on the subject.