Diversity of Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad Seeds Extracts: Detailed Chemical Profiling and Evaluation of Their Medicinal Properties

Anticancer activity, phytochemical investigation and molecular docking insights of Citrullus colocynthis (L.) fruits

Cancer disease is regarded as one of the most significant public health issues, regardless of economic standards. Medicinal plants are now regarded as a natural source of anticancer medicines due to their antioxidant and anti-mutagenic actions. Cucurbitaceae is considered to be one of the most economically significant families. One family species is Citrullus colocynthis (L.), which has a high concentration of many active secondary chemical metabolites. Various C. colocynthis plant extracts showed cytotoxicity against some cancer cells. This study aims to identify the C. colocynthis fruit components and determine whether they have anticancer action against MIA PaCa-2 and A431 cells. High-Performance Liquid Chromatography/Quadrupole Time of Flight/Mass Spectrometry (HPLC/QTOF/MS); the technique was accustomed to investigate the compounds of the ethyl acetate (EtOAc) fruit extract. Anticancer activity was investigated on both MIAPaCa-2 and A-431 cell lines. DPPH assay for antioxidant activity was carried out. Molecular modelling was employed to help understand the molecular basis for the observed anticancer activity. 24 compounds were tentatively identified by comparing the extract's fragmentation pattern in positive mode against reference compounds spectra and literature. The EtOAc extract of C. colocynthis had effective positive results on cancer cells (MIAPaCa-2 and A-431) and was characterized by slight or no harmful effect on normal (healthy) cells. For the DPPH assay, EtOAc and BuOH extracts exhibited high antioxidant activity (86 and 76%, respectively) compared with the oxidative potential of the standard compound (Caffeic acid, 98%). One of the major cucurbitacin derivatives that LC/MS tentatively identified in the EtOAc extract was Cucurbita-5(10),6,23-triene-3β,25-diol. During this study, docking experiments and MD simulations were carried out, which suggested the anti-pancreatic cancer activity of C. colocynthis extract to be attributed to EGFR inhibition by Cucurbita-5(10),6,23-triene-3β,25-diol. Therefore, expansion of this type of research should be encouraged in the hope of obtaining natural therapeutics for cancerous tumors in the future, having the advantage of being cheaper, safer, and with fewer side effects.

Plant Essential Oil with Biological Activity (II)

Essential oils (EOs) are concentrated hydrophobic liquids that originate from plants and contain different bioactive chemicals and volatile substances. Several plant essential oils (PEOs) are obtained from a variety of medicinal plants and have been utilized in folk medicine and traditional pharmacopoeia. They have a long history of usage as antibacterial medicines to treat various human, animal, and plant diseases. The extraction of essential oils frequently involves fractional distillation with a variety of organic solvents. EOs can be used successfully in the food and cosmetics industries in addition to their traditional use as antimicrobial agents. This Special Issue covers various significant PEOs and their individual chemical constituents and biological-pharmaceutical functions. Further information focused on the chemical characterizations, modes of action, and biopharmaceutical properties of PEOs. This Special Issue includes seventeen research papers from different geographical zones.

Unveiling the Chemical Profiling Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Algerian Myrtus communis L. Essential Oils, and Exploring Molecular Docking to Predict the Inhibitory Compounds against Cyclooxygenase-2

Considering the large spectrum of side effects caused by synthetic drugs and the development of natural alternatives utilizing Algerian flora, this study aimed to place a spotlight on the chemical profile and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of Myrtus communis L. essential oils (MCEOs). In this study, essential oils (EOs) were collected via hydro-distillation of the plant's leaves, and a chemical constituent analysis was performed using gas chromatography-mass spectrophotometry (GC-MS). The in vitro antioxidant activity was evaluated using DPPH, ABTS, and hydroxyl radical scavenging tests. The in vitro anti-inflammatory capacity was estimated by studying the antidenaturation effect using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a protein model. The in vivo anti-inflammatory activity was carried out by utilizing the classical model of carrageenan-induced paw edema in rats, using diclofenac (DCF) as the reference drug. Moreover, the molecular interaction of the compounds obtained from the GC-MS analysis was studied within the binding site of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) using an in silico approach as the confirmatory tool of the in vitro and in vivo experiments. The GC-MS analysis revealed that MCEOs were mainly composed of oxygenated monoterpenes (70.56%), oxygenated sesquiterpenes (3.1%), sesquiterpenes (4.17%), and monoterpenes (8.75%). Furthermore, 1,8-cineole was the major compound (19.05%), followed by cis-geranyl acetate (11.74%), methyl eugenol (5.58%), α-terpineol (4.62%), and β-myrcene (4.40%). MCEOs exhibited remarkable concentration-dependent free radical scavenging activity, with an IC50 of 15.317 ± 0.340 µg/mL, 18.890 ± 2.190 µg/mL, and 31.877 ± 0.742 µg/mL for DPPH, ABTS, and hydroxyl radical, respectively. The significant in vitro anti-inflammatory activity due to the inhibition of BSA denaturation was proportional to the EO concentration, where the highest value was recorded at 100 μg/mL with an approximately 63.35% percentage inhibition and an IC50 of 60.351 ± 5.832 μg/mL. MCEOs showed a good in vivo anti-inflammatory effect by limiting the development of carrageenan-induced paw thickness. The in silico study indicated that, among the 60 compounds identified by the GC-MS analysis, 9 compounds were observed to have a high binding energy to cyclooxygenase-2 as compared to diclofenac. Our study revealed that EOs from Algerian Myrtus communis L. can be considered to be a promising candidate for alleviating many debilitating health problems and may provide new insights in the fields of drug design, agriculture, and the food industry.

Characterization of Bioactive Compounds and Novel Proteins Derived from Promising Source Citrullus colocynthis along with In-Vitro and In-Vivo Activities

Herbal products are preferable to synthetic medicines, and the use of traditional medicines is increasing day-by-day. The current study was designed to evaluate the potentials of bioactive compounds from Citrullus colocynthis by performing FTIR, HPLC, and GC-MS analyses, which explore the good concentration of the secondary metabolites, such as gallic acid (74.854 ppm), vanillic acid (122.616 ppm), and ferulic acid (101.045 ppm) with considerable bioactivities. Antimicrobial protein was estimated by performing SDS-PAGE, ranging from 15 to 70 kDa in all protein fractions. The current study also checked the cytotoxicity of the bioactive compounds in the active fraction of C. colocynthis, and to perform this activity, the groups of rats were arranged with 16 rats randomly divided into four groups (three experimental and one control) by administering various dosage of methanolic fractions in dose-dependent manner. Histopathology was conducted on the livers of the rats after 15 days of sacrifice under deep anesthesia. In liver cell slides examined at the maximum dose of 600 mg/kg, minimal morphological changes, such as slight ballooning, nuclear variation, vacuolar degeneration, and hydropic degeneration, were observed. Furthermore, the in silico analysis identified bioactive compounds as potential drug candidates.