The chemical composition and biological activity of three parts (rind, flesh and seeds) of pumpkin fruits (Cucurbita pepo L.) cultivated in Egypt were studied. Chemical analysis of fibre, protein, β-carotene, carbohydrates, minerals and fatty acids present in the rind, flesh, seeds and defatted seeds meal was conducted. Chemical, GC-MS and biological assays of organic extracts of the main fruit parts, rind and flesh established their unique constituents. Chromatographic purification of the extracts afforded triglyceride fatty acid mixture (1), tetrahydro-thiophene (2), linoleic acid (3), calotropoleanly ester (4), cholesterol (5) and 13(18)-oleanen-3-ol (6). GC-MS analysis of the extract's unpolar fraction revealed the existence of dodecane and tetradecane. Structures of the isolated compounds (1-6) were confirmed by NMR and EI-MS spectrometry. Antimicrobial, antiviral and antitumour activities of the fruit parts were discussed. The promising combined extract of rind and flesh was biologically studied for microbial and cytotoxic activities in comparison with the whole isolated components.
Cotoneaster afghanicus G.Klotz belongs to the Rosaceae family, which represents medium sized plants distributed worldwide, with 95-125 genera and 2825-3500 species [1] . Genus Cotoneaster is commonly found in temperate regions of Asia, Europe and North Africa. It is widely distributed in mountainous parts of China, Afghanistan and Pakistan with about 300 different species. Plants from this genus are woody and vary in size from 0.2 m shrubs to 20 m trees [2] . This genus attained popularity due to its ornamental plants, which were shown to contain medicinally active compounds. Different plants of this family have been reported to possess antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, cytotoxic, antihemolytic, hepato-protective and thrombolytic activities [3][4][5][6] .C. acuminatus Lind. is a shrub and commonly used as medicinal plant in some areas of Pakistan. The powder of its roots is used to treat hypertension [7] . A number of phytochemicals have been identified from genus Cotoneaster. The most common phytochemicals have been flavonoids, isoflavonols, phenols and aromatic esters [8,9] . Flavonoids have different activities including antimicrobial, antiangiogenic, antiinflammatory, antiallergic, hepatoprotective and apoptotic [10] . C. racemiflora methanol extract has been reported to possess five compounds, racemiside, scopoletin, 7,8-dimethoxy-6-hydroxycoumarin, 3,3ʹ,4ʹ-tri-omethyl ellagic acid and cereotagloperoxide exhibiting antioxidant activities [11] . Similarly, the methanol extract of C. nummularioides showed strong antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria and the minimum inhibitory concentrations was found to be 3.125 mg/ml for Bacillus cereus and 6.25 mg/ ml for Staphylococcus aureus [12] . In another study, Uysal et al. [13] reported that methanol extract of twigs of C. integerrimus exerted strong biological effects and 18 phenolics were identified in the extract. From all the constituents, (-)-epicatechin was found to be the
The main outcomes of this work were evaluation the bioactivities of some natural organic compounds extracted from rind and seeds of Pumpkin by using in vitro tests as well as, their chemical analysis. In one unique considers the first study carried out on the Pumpkin rind was found to be rich in βcarotene and minerals (Calcium, Iron, Zinc, Copper and Selenium) and a good source of protein; the potential cytotoxicity of rind extract obviously appears in its IC50 "its dose which reduces survival to 50%" which equal to 0.54 and 0.60µg using breast and liver carcinoma cell lines respectively, besides it has moderate positive antibacterial effects on Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus cereus. Pumpkin seeds were found to be rich in fat and protein with an average yield of approximately 47.03 and 35.95% respectively, as well as they not only rich in essential fatty and amino acids but also in minerals. In addition, Pumpkin seeds oil has highly positive effects on both breast and liver tumor cell lines where, it has IC50 0.40 and 0.81µg respectively. The results show very clearly that the Pumpkin seeds oil has strong positive antimicrobial effect toward Saccharomyces cerevisiae, in the same words; neither rind extract nor seeds oil of Pumpkin has any antimicrobial positive effects on Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichiea coli, Salmonella and Aspergillus niger. The results obtained in this study indicated that, Rind extract and Pumpkin seeds oil are rich sources of nutrients. Therefore, they can be consumed as food or as supplementary ingredients especially in Egypt to alleviate the problems of health and nutrients/protein malnutrition.
The, present study was carried out to maximizing the available and valuable sources of proteins of the agriculture plant`s waste and industry duties. So this research focusing on the nutritional and functional properties of defatted hibiscus, jojoba and pumpkin seeds flour. Analysis were carried out on defatted seeds, to determine proximate chemical composition , such as crude protein , ether extract, ash, crude fiber, amino acids and carbohydrate content.The latter was calculated by difference. Protein content ranged of 23.4, 28.0 and 53.5 % of dry mater base (DM) of jojoba seeds flour (JF), hibiscus seeds flour (HF), and pumpkin seeds flours (PF) respectively. In addition, fat content ranged from 13.9 % to 33.8 % of HF and PF, respectively, while the highest fat content 54.9% obtained from JF. Antinutritional compounds, such as phytates detected in all flours, ranged from 0.23 to 0.5 g/100g DM. Functional properties of all flours were assessed, such as water absorption index (WAI), water soluble index(WSI), acid number (pH), foam capacity (FC) and foam stability (FS). All flours were excellent in their functional properties except FC and FS of PF was inferior good. Amino acids compositions of these flours were also determined. The protein of these flour had abundant amount of total essential amino acids and higher than recommended by FAO/ WHO (1973). This research classified the amino acids of all seeds flour into groups to identify the flour potential for food supplementation in bakery and meat processed formulation. The nutritional value of the protein and its quality methods based on in vitro (chemical) and animal bioassays in vivo for assessment of protein quality have been developed by predicting protein quality depending on the determination of amino acids and calculated chemical scores, essential amino acid index (EAAI), amino acid / essential amino acids (A/E) ratio, amino acids score (AAS), estimated biological (BV) and calculated protein efficiency ratio (PER). An in vivo of protein quality depending on biological assessment using rats which depending on true digestibility percentage (TD), BV and net protein utilization (NPU) were investigated. By comparison, between their chemical estimation and bioassay, it's clearly view that, both of HF and PF had good quality protein; as expressed by their high TD, BV and NPU when compared to poorly JF. Both of these flours were significantly a quite similar to standard protein of casein. Meanwhile, jojoba flour had a considerable amount of antinutritional factors of simmondsin, which act as satiety inducers and impede bioavailability of protein. All of these nutritional values of the different flours HF and PF concluded those have an excellent protein and nourished sources. These flours could be potentially added to food system, such as bakery products, complementary foods and meat products, moreover JF have been promising not only their nutritive value but also for their responsibility to diminish satiety and reducing food intake for dietetic persons.
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