Diversity of Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad Seeds Extracts: Detailed Chemical Profiling and Evaluation of Their Medicinal Properties
Bioorganic chemistry
Seeds and fruits of Citrullus colocynthis have been reported to possess huge potential for
the development of phytopharmaceuticals with a wide range of biological activities. Thus, in the
current study, we are reporting the potential antimicrobial and anticancer properties of C. colocynthis
seeds extracted with solvents of different polarities, including methanol (M.E.), hexane (H.E.), and
chloroform (C.E.). Antimicrobial properties of C. colocynthis seeds extracts were evaluated on Grampositive
and Gram-negative bacteria, whereas, anticancer properties were tested on four different
cell lines, including HepG2, DU145, Hela, and A549. All the extracts have demonstrated noteworthy
antimicrobial activities with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranging from 0.9–62.5 g/mL
against Klebsiella planticola and Staphylococcus aureus; meanwhile, they were found to be moderately
active (MIC 62.5–250 g/mL) against Escherichia coli and Micrococcus luteus strains. Hexane extracts
have demonstrated the highest antimicrobial activity against K. planticola with an MIC value of
0.9 g/mL, equivalent to that of the standard drug ciprofloxacin used as positive control in this
study. For anticancer activity, all the extracts of C. colocynthis seeds were found to be active against
all the tested cell lines (IC50 48.49–197.96 g/mL) except for the chloroform extracts, which were
found to be inactive against the HepG2 cell line. The hexane extract was found to possess the most
prominent anticancer activity when compared to other extracts and has demonstrated the highest
anticancer activity against the DU145 cell line with an IC50 value of 48.49 g/mL. Furthermore,
a detailed phytoconstituents analysis of all the extracts of C. colocynthis seeds were performed using
GC–MS and GC–FID techniques. Altogether, 43 phytoconstituents were identified from the extracts
of C. colocynthis seeds, among which 21, 12, and 16 components were identified from the H.E.,
C.E., and M.E. extracts, respectively. Monoterpenes (40.4%) and oxygenated monoterpenes (41.1%)
were the most dominating chemical class of compounds from the hexane and chloroform extracts,
respectively; whereas, in the methanolic extract, oxygenated aliphatic hydrocarbons (77.2%) were
found to be the most dominating chemical class of compounds. To the best of our knowledge, all the
phytoconstituents identified in this study are being reported for the first time from the C. colocynthis.
Eco-friendly approaches for the preparation of nanomaterials have recently attracted considerable attention of
scientific community due to rising environmental distresses. The aim of the…
Solvents play an important role in the extraction process by considerably affecting the
amount and nature of secondary metabolites of medicinal plants. Thus, the effect of solvents must…
Seeds and fruits of Citrullus colocynthis have been reported to possess huge potential for
the development of phytopharmaceuticals with a wide range of biological activities. Thus, in the…