Determination of cucurbitacin E in some selected herbs of ayurvedic importance through RP-HPLC

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.

Optimal transfer learning based nutrient deficiency classification model in ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula)

The efficient detection of nutrient deficiency and proper fertilizer for that deficiency becomes the critical challenges various farmers face. The family Cucurbitaceae includes members cultivated globally as a source of indigenous medicines, food, and fiber. Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb, generally called Ridge gourd, belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family and is an annual herb originating in several areas of India, particularly in the coastal regions. Nutrient deficiency detection in ridge gourd is essential to improve crop productivity. In agricultural practises, the early identification and categorization of nutrient deficiencies in crops is essential for sustaining optimal growth and production. Addressing these nutrient deficiencies, we applied the Ring Toss Game Optimization with a Deep Transfer Learning-based Nutrient Deficiency Classification (RTGODTL-NDC) to Ridge Gourd (Luffa acutangula). This research proposes a new ring toss game optimization with a deep transfer learning-based nutrient deficiency classification (RTGODTL-NDC) method. The RTGODTL-NDC technique uses pre-processing, segmentation, feature extraction, hyperparameter tuning, and classification. The Gabor filter (GF) is mainly used for image pre-processing, and the Adam optimizer with SqueezeNet model is utilized for feature extraction. Finally, the RTGO algorithm with the deep hybrid learning (HDL) model is applied to classify nutrient deficiencies. The suggested framework has the potential to improve crop management practises by allowing for proactive and targeted interventions, which will result in improved agricultural health, production, and resource utilisation. The outcomes represented by the RTGODTL-NDC method have resulted in improved performance. For example, based on accuracy and specificity, the RTGODTL-NDC methodology rendered maximum [Formula: see text] of 97.16% and specificity of 98.29%. The outcomes show how effective the transfer learning-based model is in identifying nutrient deficits in ridge gourd plants, as seen by its high level of accuracy.

Alternations of NF-κB Signaling by Natural Compounds in Muscle-Derived Cancers

The NF-κB-signaling pathway plays a crucial role in cancer progression, including muscle-derived cancers such as rhabdomyosarcoma or sarcoma. Several natural compounds have been studied for their ability to alter NF-κB signaling in these types of cancers. This review paper summarizes the current knowledge on the effects of natural compounds, including curcumin, resveratrol, quercetin, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, and berberine, on NF-κB signaling in muscle-derived cancers. These compounds have been shown to inhibit NF-κB signaling in rhabdomyosarcoma cells through various mechanisms, such as inhibiting the activation of the IKK complex and the NF-κB transcription factor. These findings suggest that natural compounds could be potential therapeutic agents for muscle-derived cancers. However, further research is needed to fully understand their mechanisms of action and potential clinical applications.

Ethnomedicines for the treatment of scorpion stings: A perspective study

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Scorpion sting is a public health concern with limited clinical symptomatic treatment. The clinical treatment uses anti-scorpion antivenom and prazosin (α-adrenergic inhibitor), often in combination with insulin, to reduce scorpion venom-induced hyperglycemia and other complications. However, these therapies also possess some limitations, necessitating urgent exploration of ethnomedicines, mainly traditional medicinal plants, to treat scorpion stings. Unfortunately, several conventional treatments are not scientifically validated, thus raising questions about their quality and utility. Therefore, pharmacological re-assessment of such medicinal plants to alleviate scorpion stings' complications is essential.

AIM OF THE STUDY

The principal objectives of this study are to provide a brief overview of medically important scorpions of the world, outline the extant traditional practices, and comprehensively review plants used in conventional ethnic medicines to treat scorpion stings over time. Modern technological advances in identifying and characterizing plant bioactive molecules are also mentioned in this review.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The traditionally used medicinal plants against scorpion stings were reviewed from the available literature in the database. The Plant List (http://www.theplantlist.org/) was used to validate the scientific names of the plants mentioned in this study. The search targeted literature on conventional treatments and crude plant extracts or their bioactive components with proven neutralization capacity against scorpion stings. Search words used were 'scorpion sting,' 'treatment for a scorpion sting,' 'antivenom and scorpion sting,' 'traditional treatment for scorpion stings, and 'natural compounds against scorpion stings'.

RESULTS

A list of more than 200 medicinal plants traditionally used in several countries for treating scorpion stings is presented in this review. Though some myth-based remedies are practiced to treat scorpion stings, no empirical evidence exists to validate this aspect of traditional knowledge. Only 38 traditional medicinal plant extracts have been tested under in-vivo and in-vitro conditions to determine their neutralization potency of scorpion envenomation. Although a few bioactive plant constituents showing scorpion venom neutralization potency have been characterized, they are not yet commercially available for clinical application.

CONCLUSIONS

There is tremendous potential locked in medicinal plants' traditional knowledge for scorpion envenomation treatment. Translating this knowledge into the clinical application will require pharmacological reassessment, in tandem with isolation and characterization of active compounds to prove their prophylactic prowess. Almost equally important would be the formulation of stringent strategies to conserve such medicinal plants from overexploitation.

Combining LC-MS/MS profiles with network pharmacology to predict molecular mechanisms of the hyperlipidemic activity of Lagenaria siceraria stand

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Lagenaria siceraria Stand. (Family: Cucurbitaceae), popularly known as bottle gourd, is traditionally used in Ayurvedic medicine as a food plant, especially in hypertension and obesity.

AIM OF THE STUDY

Investigations were undertaken to assign novel lead combinations from this common food plant to multi-molecular modes of actions in the complex disease networks of obesity and hypertension. LC-MS/MS based metabolite screening, in-vivo high fat diet induced hyperlipidemia animal study and network pharmacology explorations of the mechanism of action for lipid lowering effects including a neighbourhood community approach for molecular combinations were performed.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Major chemical constituents of the fruits of LS (LSFE) were analysed by HPLC-DAD-MS/MS-QTOF. Wistar albino rats (n = 36), divided into 6 groups (n = 6) received either no treatment or a high-fat diet along with LSFE or Atorvastatin. Lipid profiles and biochemical parameters were evaluated. In silico cross-validated network analyses using different databases and Cytospace were applied.

RESULTS

Profiling of LSFE revealed 18 major constituents: phenolic acids like p-Coumaric acid and Ferulic acid, the monolignolconferyl alcohol, the flavonoid glycosides hesperidin and apigenin-7-glucoside. Hyperlipidemic animals treated with LSFE (200 mg/kg, 400 mg/kg, 600 mg/kg) showed a significant improvement of their lipid profiles after 30 days of treatment. Network pharmacology analyses for the major 18 compounds revealed enrichment of the insulin and the ErbB signalling pathway. Novel target node combinations (e.g. AKR1C1, AGXT) including their connection to different pathways were identified in silico.

CONCLUSIONS

The combined in vivo and bioinformatics analyses propose that lead compounds of LSFE act in combination on relevant targets of hyperlipidemia. Perturbations of the IRS→Akt→Foxo1 cascade are predicted which suggest further clinical investigation towards development of safe natural alternative to manage hyperlipidemia.

Identification and Quantification of Key Phytochemicals, Phytohormones, and Antioxidant Properties in Coccinia grandis during Fruit Ripening

Coccinia grandis contains secondary metabolites, such as flavonoids, phenolic acids, terpenoids, alkaloids, sterols, and glycosides, which are known to have in vitro antioxidant, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and antidyslipidemic activities. C. grandis fruits change dramatically during ripening, and the differences in the phytochemicals contribute to various uses. This study reports the phytochemical compounds and antioxidant activities during ripening of C. grandis for the first time. Characterizations were conducted on the physiologically active substances in C. grandis fruits at three ripening stages, and a total of 25 peaks were identified. Key phytochemicals in the ripening stages of C. grandis were identified, and the major substances that contributed to antioxidant properties were selected and quantitatively analyzed. Although the concentration of tiliroside increased during aging, hydroxycinnamic acid (chlorogenic and p-coumaric acids), flavonols (rutin), and triterpenes (cucurbitacins B and D) with antioxidant effects decreased. Therefore, phenolic compounds and cucurbitacins dominate immature C. grandis quantitatively. Regarding phytohormones, the gibberellin A4 content decreased as the fruits matured, but indoleacetic acid and salicylic acid increased with fruit maturity. The antioxidant capacities determined by DPPH and ABTS consistently decreased with increasing maturity. Accordingly, the extracts of immature C. grandis fruits have high levels of bioactive compounds and can be used to develop food additives and health supplements.

Cell-modified plasmonic interface for the signal-amplified detection of Cucurbitacin E

Cucurbitacin E (CuE) plays an important role in anticancer, antichemical carcinogenesis, and body immunity, etc., and the detection of its concentration is meaningful to pharmacological studies and clinical applications. However, the small molecular weight of CuE makes direct detection difficult through a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor. In this work, we propose a cells-amplified signal strategy at the plasmonic interface, realizing the detection of CuE with ultra-low concentration. The seeded HeLa cells are modified onto the surface of the SPR sensor, and a small amount of CuE can lead to the remarkable morphology change of cells and the release of cell-related substances onto the plamonic interface, thus significantly amplifying the signal. Experimental results show that by using an unmodified SPR sensor with the bulk refractive index sensitivity of 2367.3 nm/RIU (RIU: refractive index unit), there no effective signal can be detected during the CuE concentration range of 0-100 nM; whereas, employing the proposed strategy, the signal for CuE detection can be significantly enhanced, resulting in a high detection sensitivity of 0.6196 nm/nM, corresponding to a limit of detection of 45.2 pM (25.2 pg/mL). The proposed cells-based signal amplifying strategy shows great potential applications in drug screening or bio-sensing to small molecules with low concentration.

Antioxidants profile of Momordica charantia fruit extract analyzed using LC-MS-QTOF-based metabolomics

Momordica charantia fruit is claimed to have healthy benefit. Despite this potential claim, the phytochemical study of this fruit is still lacking. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the antioxidants profile of Momordica charantia (Cucurbitaceae) fruit. The antioxidant activity of the ethanolic extracts of various polarities was evaluated and the metabolites that are responsible for its activity were identified using metabolomics approach. Six different mixture of ethanol in water that are 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% (v/v) was extracted using dveseeded fruit sample. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-quadrupole time of flight and multivariate data analysis was used to identify the metabolites that were either antioxidants or pro-oxidants. The 80% ethanol extract exhibited the most antioxidant activity when tested in both 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) antioxidant assays. This extract showed the most intense LC-MS signals represented to ascorbic acid, margarolic acid, brevifolincarboxylic acid, quercetin 3-O-glycoside, kuguacin H, cucurbitacin E, 3-malonylmomordicin I, and goyaglycoside G correlating to the anti-oxidant activity. This study reports for the first time the existence of brevifolincarboxylic acid in this fruit, and the antioxidant activity of 3-malonylmomordicin I and goyaglycoside G. In addition, the loading plots revealed the unknown compounds possessing the antioxidant activity which are potential to be isolated in the future study.

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.

Bryonia multiflora Extract Induces Autophagy via Regulating Long Non-coding RNAs in Breast Cancer Cells

Bryonia multiflora, one of the species of Bryonia L. (Cucurbitaceae) genus, is a perennial, dioecious, herbaceous plant with rhizome-shaped roots. Bryonia species have anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, cytotoxic, antioxidant, etc., activities and their components consume antitumoral effects. Purpose of the study to investigate the effect of Bryonia Multiflora extract (BMST) on breast cancer cells. Our results revealed that MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells underwent significant morphological changes leading to cell rounding. No significant changes were observed in the cell viability by MTT. Acridine orange staining of our cells gave rise to think that BMST might lead our cells to autophagy. Therefore, possible molecular mechanisms underlying morphological changes such as autophagy (LC-3B, Beclin, AMBRA1) and apoptosis (Bcl-2) were evaluated on mRNA and protein levels. BMST treated MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells had increased levels of autophagy markers whereas decreased levels of Bcl-2. p21 levels were also found to be increased in both cells. Analysis of lncRNA expressions has shown that BMST treatment led to changes in the expression levels of several lncRNAs playing roles in autophagy. The current study has shown that BMST induces autophagy in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells via regulating the lncRNAs revealing that BMST could be a promising therapeutic agent.