Isolation of Anti Ulcer Cucurbitane Type Triterpenoid from the Seeds of Cucurbita pepo

Pumpkin and Pumpkin By-Products: A Comprehensive Overview of Phytochemicals, Extraction, Health Benefits, and Food Applications

A versatile and popular Cucurbitaceous vegetable, pumpkin has recently gained much attention because of its variety of phytochemicals and health advantages. Pumpkins are a type of winter squash, traditionally with large, spherical, orange fruits and a highly nutrient food. Pumpkin by-products comprise various parts, such as seeds, peels, and pulp residues, with their bioactive composition and many potential benefits poorly explored by the food industry. Pumpkin and their by-products contain a wide range of phytochemicals, including carotenoids, polyphenols, tocopherols, vitamins, minerals, and dietary fibers. These compounds in pumpkin by-products exhibit antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, and antimicrobial properties and could reduce the risk of chronic diseases. This comprehensive review aims to provide a detailed overview of the phytochemicals found in pumpkin and its by-products, along with their extraction methods, health benefits, and diverse food and industrial applications. This information can offer valuable insights for food scientists seeking to reevaluate pumpkin's potential as a functional ingredient. Reusing these by-products would support integrating a circular economy approach by boosting the market presence of valuable and sustainable products that improve health while lowering food waste.

Biological and medicinal application of Cucumis sativus Linn. - review of current status with future possibilities

OBJECTIVES

The increasing demand for herbal drugs for the human application is causing a growing demand for the cultivation of Medicinal Plants. This demand has developed because of cost-effective, plant-derived products rather than commercially available synthetic drugs. Cucumis sativus Linn. (Ver. Kheera) is a vegetable climber, species belongs to family Cucurbitaceae This species has a wide range of medicinal and biological applications thanks to its richness in carbohydrate, proteins, minerals (calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc) and secondary metabolites like alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, saponins, and phenolic compounds These phytoconstituents may be responsible for allied therapeutic application. So, C. sativus possess wider applications for preventing certain ailments.

CONTENT

The literature in various national and international journals and reports pertaining to the medicinal and nutritional uses were reviewed. The result revealed the current therapeutic applications of C. sativus whole plants other than the nutritional value. C. sativus pharmacological action includes antioxidant, anti-diabetic, UV protectant, hepatoprotective, gastroprotective, anti-helminthic, wound healing, antimicrobial, and anticancer. So, it could be useful for both preventive and additive therapy along with modern medicine for the better management of certain disorders.

SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK

This review furnishes updated information about the phytoconstituents and their medicinal applications so that it can pose a path for the young researchers to do future findings.

Nutritional Value, Phytochemical Potential, and Therapeutic Benefits of Pumpkin (Cucurbita sp.)

Pumpkin is a well-known multifunctional ingredient in the diet, full of nutrients, and has opened new vistas for scientists during the past years. The fruit of pumpkin including the flesh, seed, and peel are a rich source of primary and secondary metabolites, including proteins, carbohydrates, monounsaturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, carotenoids, tocopherols, tryptophan, delta-7-sterols, and many other phytochemicals. This climber is traditionally used in many countries, such as Austria, Hungary, Mexico, Slovenia, China, Spain, and several Asian and African countries as a functional food and provides health promising properties. Other benefits of pumpkin, such as improving spermatogenesis, wound healing, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, anti-ulcerative properties, and treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia have also been confirmed by researchers. For better drug delivery, nanoemulsions and niosomes made from pumpkin seeds have also been reported as a health promising tool, but further research is still required in this field. This review mainly focuses on compiling and summarizing the most relevant literature to highlight the nutritional value, phytochemical potential, and therapeutic benefits of pumpkin.

Therapeutic Potential and Pharmaceutical Applications of Cucurbita

Aim:

The present review aims to discuss the therapeutic potential and pharmaceutical applications of the Cucurbita plant.

Methods:

Various search engines such as ScienceDirect, Scopus, Google Scholar, Google Patents, etc. were used for the literature survey.

Discussion:

During the literature survey, it was observed that different parts of the Cucurbita species have significant therapeutic effects against disease conditions. They have antimicrobial, antifungal, antiviral, antiulcer, antidiabetic, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, etc., activities. Studies also showed that various pharmaceutical formulations have been prepared for the delivery of therapeutic active ingredients of cucurbits. A list of patents based on pharmaceutical formulations and therapeutic activity has also been included in the manuscript.

Conclusion:

It can be concluded from the findings that Cucurbita has significant therapeutic potential, clinical effects and can be used to treat various diseases.

Antioxidant potential of family Cucurbitaceae with special emphasis on Cucurbita genus: A key to alleviate oxidative stress-mediated disorders

Oxidative stress is the imbalance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and accumulation and the ability of a biological system to clear these reactive products. This imbalance leads to cell and tissue damage causing several disorders in human body, such as neurodegeneration, metabolic problems, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. Cucurbitaceae family consists of about 100 genera and 1,000 species of plants including mostly tropical, annual or perennial, monoecious, and dioecious herbs. The plants from Cucurbita species are rich sources of phytochemicals and act as a rich source of antioxidants. The most important phytochemicals present in the cucurbits are cucurbitacins, saponins, carotenoids, phytosterols, and polyphenols. These bioactive phyto-constituents are responsible for the pharmacological effects including antioxidant, antitumor, antidiabetic, hepatoprotective, antimicrobial, anti-obesity, diuretic, anti-ulcer activity, and antigenotoxic. A wide number of in vitro and in vivo studies have ascribed these health-promoting effects of Cucurbita genus. Results of clinical trials suggest that Cucurbita provides health benefits for diabetic patients, patients with benign prostate hyperplasia, infertile women, postmenopausal women, and stress urinary incontinence in women. The intend of the present review is to focus on the protective role of Cucurbita spp. phytochemicals on oxidative stress-related disorders on the basis of preclinical and human studies. The review will also give insights on the in vitro and in vivo antioxidant potential of the Cucurbitaceae family as a whole.

Cucurbita Plants: From Farm to Industry

The Cucurbita genus, a member of Cucurbitaceae family, also known as cucurbits, is native to the Americas. Genus members, like Cucurbita pepo and Cucurbita maxima, have been used for centuries in folk medicine for treating gastrointestinal diseases and intestinal parasites. These pharmacological effects are mainly attributed to their phytochemical composition. Indeed, Cucurbita species are a natural source of carotenoids, tocopherols, phenols, terpenoids, saponins, sterols, fatty acids, functional carbohydrates, and polysaccharides, that beyond exerting remarkable biological effects, have also been increasingly exploited for biotechnological applications. In this article, we specifically cover the habitat, cultivation, phytochemical composition, and food preservative abilities of Cucurbita plants.

Phytochemical Profiling of Leaf, Stem, and Tuber Parts of Solena amplexicaulis (Lam.) Gandhi Using GC-MS

Objective. To explore the possible bioactive compounds in the methanolic extracts of leaf, stem, and tuber parts of the medicinal climber, Solena amplexicaulis, using GC-MS. Methods. GC-MS analysis of the plant extracts were performed by using GC-MS-5975C [Agilent] and mass spectra of the compounds found in the extract was matched with the data in the library of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Results. Thirty-five compounds were determined to be present in the parts studied. The active principles with their retention time, molecular formula, molecular weight, peak area, structure, category of the compounds, and activities were predicted. The most prevailing compounds were phytol (38.24%) in leaf, 4-(4-ethoxyphenyl) but-3-en-2-one (56.90%) in stem, and 9,17-octadecadienal, (Z)- (21.77%) in tuber. Conclusion. This study revealed that the species S. amplexicaulis is a good source of many bioactive compounds like terpenes, triazines, esters, alkanes, alcohols, hydrocarbons, aldehydes, amides, and so forth. That justifies the traditional usage of this species.

Scientific evaluation of edible fruits and spices used for the treatment of peptic ulcer in traditional Iranian medicine

In traditional Iranian medicine (TIM), several edible fruits and spices are thought to have protective and healing effects on peptic ulcer (PU). The present study was conducted to verify anti-PU activity of these remedies. For this purpose, edible fruits and spices proposed for the management of PU in TIM were collected from TIM sources, and they were searched in modern medical databases to find studies that confirmed their efficacy. Findings from modern investigations support the claims of TIM about the efficacy of many fruits and spices in PU. The fruit of Phyllanthus emblica as a beneficial remedy for PU in TIM has been demonstrated to have antioxidant, wound healing, angiogenic, anti-H. pylori, cytoprotective, antisecretory, and anti-inflammatory properties. The fruit of Vitis vinifera has been found to be anti-H. pylori, anti-inflammatory, wound healing, angiogenic, cytoprotective, and antioxidant. The fruit and aril of seed from Myristica fragrans exert their beneficial effects in PU by increasing prostaglandin, modulation of nitric oxide and inflammatory mediators, wound healing, antisecretory, antacid, antioxidant, and anti-H. pylori activities, and improving angiogenesis. Pharmacological and clinical studies for evaluation of efficacy of all TIM fruits and spices in PU and their possible mechanisms of action are recommended.