Importance of Certain Varieties of Cucurbits in Enhancing Health: A Review.

The Cucurbitaceae family is an extensive group of fruits and vegetables that exhibit common characteristics; for example, they are farmed on a global scale and exhibit a wide range of applications, including fresh consumption and use in various food and beverage products. As is frequent, many species or genera share a common name, and this can lead to some confusion when looking for information about a specific variety. In this review, we describe the findings about the biological activity, like antibacterial, antiviral, antidiabetic, and anticancer properties, of two genera of this family, Cucumis and Momordica, which have been characterized and evaluated in several research studies and regarding which information is readily accessible. Those activities rely on the various physicochemical qualities and nutritional content of each variety, including factors like ß-carotene and polyphenols, among others. The goal of this review is to provide a rapid search for each activity examined in the literature, enabling future research on their potential uses in functional foods and nutraceutical supplements.

Recovery of Bioactive Ellagitannins by Ultrasound/Microwave-Assisted Extraction from Mexican Rambutan Peel (Nephelium lappaceum L.).

Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum L.) is a tropical fruit from Asia which has become the main target of many studies involving polyphenolic analysis. Mexico produces over 8 million tons per year of rambutan, generating a huge amount of agro-industrial waste since only the pulp is used and the peel, which comprises around 45% of the fruit's weight, is left behind. This waste can later be used in the recovery of polyphenolic fractions. In this work, emerging technologies such as microwave, ultrasound, and the hybridization of both were tested in the extraction of phenolic compounds from Mexican rambutan peel. The results show that the hybrid technology extraction yielded the highest polyphenolic content (176.38 mg GAE/g of dry rambutan peel). The HPLC/MS/ESI analysis revealed three majoritarian compounds: geraniin, corilagin, and ellagic acid. These compounds explain the excellent results for the biological assays, namely antioxidant activity evaluated by the DPPH, ABTS, and LOI (Lipid oxidation inhibition) assays that exhibited great antioxidant capacity with IC50 values of 0.098, 0.335, and 0.034 mg/mL respectively, as well as prebiotic activity demonstrated by a µMax (maximum growth) of 0.203 for Lactobacillus paracasei. Lastly, these compounds have shown no hemolytic activity, opening the door for the elaboration of different products in the food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries.

Gallic acid decreases hepatitis C virus expression through its antioxidant capacity.

Gallic acid (GA) is a natural phenolic compound that possesses various biological effects, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, anticancer, antiviral and cardiovascular protection activities. In addition, numerous studies have reported that antioxidants possess antiviral activities. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the most important causes of chronic liver diseases worldwide, but until recently, only a small number of antiviral agents had been developed against HCV. Therefore, the present study investigated whether GA exhibits an anti-HCV activity. The effects of GA on HCV expression were examined using a subgenomic HCV replicon cell culture system that expressed HCV nonstructural proteins (NSs). In addition, GA cytotoxicity was evaluated at concentrations between 100-600 mg/ml using an MTT assay. Huh-7 replicon cells were incubated with 300 mg/ml GA for different times, and the HCV-RNA and protein levels were measured by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis, respectively. Pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) was used as an antioxidant control and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was measured during the exposure. The results indicated that GA did not produce a statistically significant cytotoxicity in parental and HCV replicon cells. Furthermore, GA downregulated the expression levels of NS5A-HCV protein (~55%) and HCV-RNA (~50%) in a time-dependent manner compared with the levels in untreated cells. Notably, GA treatment decreased ROS production at the early time points of exposure in cells expressing HCV proteins. Similar results were obtained upon PDTC exposure. These findings suggest that the antioxidant capacity of GA may be involved in the downregulation of HCV replication in hepatoma cells.