Extracts of Opuntia humifusa Fruits Inhibit the Growth of AGS Human Gastric Adenocarcinoma Cells

Beneficial Effects of Opuntia humifusa (Korean Cheonnyuncho) on Human Health Based on Antioxidant Properties: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

In this study, a systematic review and meta-analysis are conducted to evaluate the medical applications of Opuntia humifusa (OH). A total of 171 articles are peer-reviewed; however, only 15 individual studies were included after the manual screening to eliminate unnecessary studies. A comparative standardized means difference (SMD) between the OH and control groups is used as a parameter to demonstrate the beneficial effects of OH for skin aging, cancer, and diabetes treatments based on its antioxidant activities. The OH treatment exhibits positive results in improving collagen synthesis and demonstrates that it is nontoxic to normal human cells without analytical heterogeneity (SMD = 1.18 [0.11, 2.26] and I² = 0%). Moreover, the results confirm the effectiveness of OH treatment on downregulatory cancers in terms of decreased cancer cell proliferation and tumor weight and increased numbers of cancer cells in the apoptosis phase (pooled SMD = -1.17 [-1.72, -0.62]). However, this comparison does not yield a statistically significant result (I² = 69%). Additionally, the OH treatment is found to reduce the symptoms of diabetes in diabetic rats, particularly by lowering glucose and triglyceride levels and increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. This study suggests that OH extracts are helpful for the prevention of human diseases and might be potential candidates for future medicines.

A Review on Opuntia Species and its Chemistry, Pharmacognosy, Pharmacology and Bioapplications

Background:

Opuntia species, locally known as prickly pear was used for various purposes as food, medicine, beverage, source of dye and animal food. Many studies have revealed its pharmacology activity from time to time. This review is a collection of chemistry, pharmacognosy, pharmacology and bioapplications of the cactus family.

Methods:

Many sources were used to collect information about Opuntia species such as Pub med, Google scholar, Agris, science direct, Embase, Merk index, Wiley online library, books and other reliable sources. This review contains studies from 1812 to 2019.

Results:

The plants from the cactus family offer various pharmacological active compounds including phenolic compounds, carotenoids, betalains, vitamins, steroids, sugar, amino acids, minerals and fibers. These bioactive compounds serve various pharmacological activities such as anticancer, antiviral, anti-diabetic, Neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, Hepatoprotective, antibacterial, antiulcer and alcohol hangover. According to various studies, Opuntia species offer many bioapplications such as fodder for animal, soil erosion, prevention, human consumption and waste water decontamination. Finally, different parts of plants are used in various formulations that offer many biotechnology applications.

Conclusion:

Different parts of Opuntia plant (fruits, seeds, flowers and cladodes) are used in various health problems which include wound healing, anti-inflammatory and urinary tract infection from ancient times. Nowadays, researches have extended several pharmacological and therapeutic uses of Opuntia species as discussed in this review. Many in-vitro and in-vivo models are also discussed in this review as the proofs of research findings. Various research gaps have been observed in current studies that require attention in the future.

Isorhamnetin glycoside isolated from Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) MilI induces apoptosis in human colon cancer cells through mitochondrial damage

This work aimed to evaluate the mechanisms involved in the apoptosis induction of isorhamnetin-3-O-glucosyl-pentoside (IGP) in metastatic human colon cancer cells (HT-29). To achieve this, we assessed phosphatidylserine (PS) exposure, cell membrane disruption, chromatin condensation, cell cycle alterations, mitochondrial damage, ROS production, and caspase-dependence on cell death. Our results showed that IGP induced cell death on HT-29 cells through PS exposure (48%) and membrane permeabilization (30%) as well as nuclear condensation (54%) compared with control cells. Moreover, IGP treatment induced cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase. Bax/Bcl-2 ratio increased and the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (63%) was observed in IGP-treated cells. Finally, as apoptosis is a caspase-dependent cell death mechanism, we used a pancaspase-inhibitor (Q-VD-OPh) to demonstrate that the cell death induced by IGP was caspase-dependent. Overall these results indicated that IGP induced apoptosis through caspase-dependent mitochondrial damage in HT-29 colon cancer cells.