Bioactive Cucurbitacins: Therapeutic Benefits, Toxicity, and Analysis

Vegetables and fruits are an important part of the diet, and they provide nutrition and have several health benefits. Cucurbitacins are tetracyclic triterpenoid compounds mainly distributed in the Cucurbitaceae family. Cucurbitacins are bitter compounds produced in plants as defense chemicals and they protect plants from herbivores, insects, and parasites. Cucurbitacin-containing plants are making an important part of the human diet in the form of vegetables and fruits. Plants containing cucurbitacins have a great role in disease prevention and treatment, and traditionally they are used for the treatment of infections, cancer, diabetes, and heart and liver diseases. The book Bioactive Cucurbitacins: Therapeutic Benefits, Toxicity, and Analysis provides an important guideline for the extraction, isolation, identification, and characterization of bioactive cucurbitacins present in vegetables and fruits. This book emphasizes recent preclinical and clinical studies on cucurbitacins role as a lead molecule for the prevention and treatment of various types of cancers. It also encompasses the role of cucurbitacins in the prevention of treatment of various human infection, metabolic syndrome, and their role as antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents. This book also addresses the oral bioavailability issues and the role of nanotechnology in solving them. The book summarizes the current state of knowledge in the key research areas and provides ideas for future scientific research to identify lead molecules “cucurbitacins” from vegetables and fruits and to use them in drug discovery and development. Key Features • Provides a detailed overview of different cucurbitacins found in vegetables and fruits, chemistry, extraction, isolation, and identification methods. • Describes their health benefits, toxicity, and nutritional importance. • Discusses the role of cucurbitacins in the treatment of various types of cancers. • Describes the applicability of sophisticated analytical techniques such as HPLC, LC-MS, and HPTLC for the analysis of cucurbitacins. • Emphasizes the use of nanotechnology in improving oral bioavailability of cucurbitacins.

Table of Contents:
Preface. Series Preface. List of Contributors. About the Authors/Editors. Section I: Sources, Extraction, Isolation, and Characterization of Cucurbitacins. Chapter 01 Sources and Importance of Cucurbitacins: An Overview. Chapter 02 An Insight into the Chemistry of Cucurbitacins. Chapter 03 Cucurbitacins Extraction: Classical and Advanced Methods. Chapter 04 Isolation and Purification of Cucurbitacins. Chapter 05 Role of spectroscopic techniques in the characterization of cucurbitacins. Section II: Health Benefits and Toxicity of Cucurbitacins. Chapter 06 Anticancer activity of cucurbitacins: in-vitro evidence. Chapter 07 Anticancer activity of Cucurbitacins: in vivo evidence. Chapter 08 Cucurbitacins as potential anticancer therapeutics: evidence from clinical trials and patents. Chapter 09 Role of Cucurbitacin’s in the Treatment of Metabolic Syndrome. Chapter 10 Cucurbitacins in the Treatment of Infections. Chapter 11 Antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory Activities of Cucurbitacins. Chapter 12 Cucurbitacin’s Toxicity in Humans. Section III: Biopharmaceutical and Analytical Aspects of Cucurbitacins. Chapter 13 Pharmacokinetics and Therapeutic Potential of Cucurbitacins. Chapter 14 Role of Nanotechnology in Improving Bioavailability of Cucurbitacins. Chapter 15 Role of Chromatography in the Analysis of Cucurbitacins. Index.

About the Author :
Dr. Javed Ahamad is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tishk International University, Erbil, Iraq. He received his Doctorate in Pharmacognosy & Phytochemistry from the School of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi (India). After his PhD, he joined Mettu University, Mettu, Ethiopia as an Assistant Professor. He has more than 13 years of experience in academia and industry. He has worked as a Junior Research Fellow (JRF) and Senior Research Fellow (SRF). He has published more than 95 high-quality research and reviewed articles in peer-reviewed journals of international repute. His current h-index is 20 with the total number of citations of his publications >1600. He is the author/editor of 4 books (Bioactive Phytochemicals: Drug Discovery to Product Development, Bentham Science Publisher, 2021; Analysis of Food Spices: Identification and Authentication, CRC Press, 2023; Bioactive Compounds of Edible Oils and Fats: Health Benefits, Risks, and Analysis, CRC Press, 2024; and Bioactive Compounds of Edible Fruits and Berries: Health Benefits, Nutritional Importance, and Analysis, CRC Press, 2025) and published 57 book chapters for edited books and book series. He is a reviewer of many peer-reviewed journals of international repute. His current research interest lies in the quality control, isolation, and characterization of potential drug candidates from food products, traditional medicinal plants, fruits, and berries. Leo M. L. Nollet earned an MS (1973) and PhD (1978) in biology from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. He is an editor and associate editor of numerous books. He edited for M. Dekker, New York—now CRC Press of Taylor & Francis Publishing Group—the first, second, and third editions of Food Analysis by HPLC and Handbook of Food Analysis. The last edition is a two-volume book. Dr. Nollet also edited the Handbook of Water Analysis (first, second, and third editions) and Chromatographic Analysis of the Environment, third and fourth editions (CRC Press). With F. Toldrá, he coedited two books published in 2006, 2007, and 2017: Advanced Technologies for Meat Processing (CRC Press) and Advances in Food Diagnostics (Blackwell Publishing—now Wiley). With M. Poschl, he coedited the book Radionuclide Concentrations in Foods and the Environment, also published in 2006 (CRC Press). Dr. Nollet has also coedited with Y. H. Hui and other colleagues on several books: Handbook of Food Product Manufacturing (Wiley, 2007), Handbook of Food Science, Technology, and Engineering (CRC Press, 2005), Food Biochemistry and Food Processing (first and second editions; Blackwell Publishing—now Wiley—2006 and 2012), and the Handbook of Fruits and Vegetable Flavors (Wiley, 2010). In addition, he edited the Handbook of Meat, Poultry, and Seafood Quality, first and second editions (Blackwell Publishing—now Wiley—2007 and 2012). From 2008 to 2011, he published five volumes on animal product-related books with F. Toldrá: Handbook of Muscle Foods Analysis, Handbook of Processed Meats and Poultry Analysis, Handbook of Seafood and Seafood Products Analysis, Handbook of Dairy Foods Analysis (2nd edition in 2021), and Handbook of Analysis of Edible Animal By-Products. Also, in 2011, with F. Toldrá, he coedited two volumes for CRC Press: Safety Analysis of Foods of Animal Origin and Sensory Analysis of Foods of Animal Origin. In 2012, they published the Handbook of Analysis of Active Compounds in Functional Foods. In a coedition with Hamir Rathore, Handbook of Pesticides: Methods of Pesticides Residues Analysis was marketed in 2009; Pesticides: Evaluation of Environmental Pollution in 2012; Biopesticides Handbook in 2015; and Green Pesticides Handbook: Essential Oils for Pest Control in 2017. Other finished book projects include Food Allergens: Analysis, Instrumentation, and Methods (with A. van Hengel; CRC Press, 2011) and Analysis of Endocrine Compounds in Food (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011). Dr. Nollet’s recent projects include Proteomics in Foods with F. Toldrá (Springer, 2013) and Transformation Products of Emerging Contaminants in the Environment: Analysis, Processes, Occurrence, Effects, and Risks with D. Lambropoulou (Wiley, 2014). In the series Food Analysis & Properties, he edited (with C. Ruiz-Capillas) Flow Injection Analysis of Food Additives (CRC Press, 2015) and Marine Microorganisms: Extraction and Analysis of Bioactive Compounds (CRC Press, 2016). With A.S. Franca, he coedited Spectroscopic Methods in Food Analysis (CRC Press, 2017), and with Horacio Heinzen and Amadeo R. Fernandez-Alba he coedited Multiresidue Methods for the Analysis of Pesticide Residues in Food (CRC Press, 2017). Further volumes in the series Food Analysis & Properties are Phenolic Compounds in Food: Characterization and Analysis (with Janet Alejandra Gutierrez-Uribe, 2018), Testing and Analysis of GMO-containing Foods and Feed (with Salah E. O. Mahgoub, 2018), Fingerprinting Techniques in Food Authentication and Traceability (with K. S. Siddiqi, 2018), Hyperspectral Imaging Analysis and Applications for Food Quality (with N.C. Basantia, Leo M.L. Nollet, Mohammed Kamruzzaman, 2018), Ambient Mass Spectroscopy Techniques in Food and the Environment (with Basil K. Munjanja, 2019), Food Aroma Evolution: During Food Processing, Cooking, and Aging (with M. Bordiga, 2019), Mass Spectrometry Imaging in Food Analysis (2020), Proteomics in Food Authentication (with S. Ötleş, 2020), Analysis of Nanoplastics and Microplastics in Food (with K.S. Siddiqi, 2020), Chiral Organic Pollutants, Monitoring and Characterization in Food and the Environment (with Edmond Sanganyado and Basil K. Munjanja, 2020), Sequencing Technologies in Microbial Food Safety and Quality (with Devarajan Thangardurai, Saher Islam, Jeyabalan Sangeetha, 2021), Nanoemulsions in Food Technology: Development, Characterization, and Applications (with Javed Ahmad, 2021), Mass Spectrometry in Food Analysis (with Robert Winkler, 2022), Bioactive Peptides from Food: Sources, Analysis, and Functions (with Semih Ötles, 2022), and Nutriomics: Well-being through Nutrition (with Devarajan Thangadurai, Saher IslamJuliana Bunmi Adetunji, 2022). In 2023 he published with Javed Ahmad Analysis of Naturally Occurring Food Toxins of Plant Origin. The last published books are: Biopesticides Handbook 2nd Ed. (with S. Mir), Handbook of Seafood and Seafood Products Analysis (with F. Toldrá), Flavoromics, an Integrated to Flavor and Sensory Assessment (with M. Bordiga), Analysis of Food Sices (with J. Ahmad and J. Ahamad), Global Regulations of Medicinal, Pharmaceutical, and Food Products (with F. Ali), Bioactive Compounds from Food-Benefits and Analysis (with J. Ahmad), and Bioactive Compounds of Edible Oils and Fats - Health Benefits, Risks, and Analysis (with J. Ahamad).