Antioxidant, antibacterial and antiproliferative activities of pumpkin (cucurbit) peel and puree extracts - an in vitro study

Natural resources right from the beginning of the human civilization has paved the way to human being to combat different challenges. The big challenge was to safe the human being from diseases and shortage of food. Plants helped the man in both areas very efficiently. No doubt when plants are used as food actually we are also taking lot of compounds of medicinal values in an excellent combination which naturally reduce the risk of diseases. Extraction and purification of several medicinally important compounds also gave the way to develop pharmaceutical industry in addition to its own therapeutic effects against different lethal diseases. Pumpkin is one of the several medicinal important vegetables used in different way on the behalf of its admirable power to combat different diseases. Antioxidant and biological studies showed very important results. A good coherence was found among extraction yield [10.52 to 18.45%], total phenolics [1.13 to 6.78 mg GAE/l00g], total flavonoids [0.23 to 0.72mg CE/l00g] and antioxidant potential [-70%]. Antibacterial assays of peel and puree extracts advocated good potential to stop the growth and division of pathogenic bacteria. Further biological activity study was carried out using MDBK cancer cell line. The growth inhibitory effect on cancer cell line using MTT assay showed methanol extracts of peel and puree both remained efficient to inhibit growth [-35%] and cell division of cancer cells. Our results showed that extracts of pumpkin puree and its waste, peel, may be utilize to prepare functional food against pathogenic born diseases and most active compounds may also be extracted, concentrated and converted into tablets or suspension form for therapeutic purposes

Antioxidant and antibacterial activities of Hibiscus Rosa-sinensis Linn flower extracts

Antioxidant and antibacterial potential of different solvent extracts of locally grown Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Linn was evaluated. The antioxidant activity was assessed by estimation of total flavonoids contents, total phenolic contents, DPPH free radical scavenging activity and percentage inhibition of linoleic acid oxidation capacity. Agar disc diffusion method was used to assess antibacterial potential of crude extract of H. rosa-sinensis. The yield of the crude extracts [23.21 +/- 3.67 and 18.36 +/- 2.98% in 80% methanol and ethanol solvents was calculated, respectively. Methanol and ethanol extract of H. rosa-sinensis showed total phenolics 61.45 +/- 3.23 and 59.31 +/- 4.31 mg/100g as gallic acid equivalent, total flavonoids 53.28 +/- 1.93 and 32.25 +/- 1.21 mg/100g as catechine equivalent, DPPH free radical scavenging activity 75.46 +/- 4.67 and 64.98 +/- 2.11% and inhibition of linoleic acid oxidation potential 75.8 +/- 3.22 and 61.6 +/- 2.01% respectively, was measured. Antibacterial study against three human pathogens such as staphlococus sp. Bacillus sp. and Escherichia coli showed growth inhibitory effect in the range of 12.75 +/- 1.17 to 16.75 +/- 2.10 mm. These results showed H. rosasinensis indigenous to Kallar Kahar and its allied areas bear promising medicinal values and could be used for developing herbal medicines to target oxidative stress and infectious diseases.