Marzouk Belsem, Refifà Meher, Montalbano Serena, Buschini Annamaria, Negri Stefano, Commisso Mauro, Degola Francesca
Laboratory of Chemical, Galenic and Pharmacological Development of Drugs, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Monastir, Monastir 500, Tunisia.
Department of Chemistry, Life Science and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy.
Plants (Basel). 2022 Oct 14;11(20):2711. doi: 10.3390/plants11202711.
Cucurbitacins, structurally different triterpenes mainly found in the members of Cucurbitaceae, possess a vast pharmacological potential. Genus , and are affluent in these bioactive compounds, and, amongst them, (L.) Schrad. is widely exploited in folk medicine, since a huge number of diseases are successfully treated with organic and aqueous extracts obtained from different organs and tissues of the plant. The well-known pharmacological activities of such species have been attributed to its peculiar composition, which includes cucurbitacins and other bioactive molecules; thus, owing to its high importance as a valuable natural resource for pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals, propagation and multiplication protocols are considered significant, but the exploitation of its phytochemical potential is limited by the restricted cultivation conditions and the low rate of seed germination in the natural environment; in fact, the assessment of accumulation rate of specific phytochemicals under controlled conditions is still missing. Axenically sprouted plantlets obtained without the use of culture media or the addition of hormones have been evaluated here for the production of bioactive compounds and relevant bioactive features. Our results proved that derived organic extracts contain cucurbitacins and other bioactives, show antioxidant potential, and exert activity against some pathogenic fungi (, and ), supporting the feasibility of a methodology intended to scale-up cultivation of this species as a source of pharmaceutically interesting compounds, achievable from plantlets cultivated under laboratory conditions.
葫芦素是一类结构各异的三萜类化合物，主要存在于葫芦科植物中，具有巨大的药理潜力。属、属和属富含这些生物活性化合物，其中，（L.）Schrad.在民间医学中被广泛应用，因为从该植物不同器官和组织中提取的有机提取物和水提取物成功治疗了大量疾病。这类植物众所周知的药理活性归因于其独特的成分，其中包括葫芦素和其他生物活性分子；因此，由于其作为制药和营养保健品宝贵天然资源的高度重要性，其繁殖和增殖方案被认为具有重要意义，但由于种植条件受限和自然环境中种子发芽率低，其植物化学潜力的开发受到限制；事实上，在受控条件下特定植物化学物质积累率的评估仍然缺失。本文评估了在不使用培养基或添加激素的情况下无菌萌发的幼苗产生生物活性化合物及相关生物活性特征的情况。我们的结果证明，衍生的有机提取物含有葫芦素和其他生物活性物质，具有抗氧化潜力，并对一些致病真菌（、和）具有活性，这支持了一种旨在扩大该物种种植规模以作为药学上有意义化合物来源的方法的可行性，该方法可从实验室条件下培养的幼苗中实现。
