Antimicrobial activity and Pharmacological values of wild cucurbits

Sanjeet Kumar

sanjeet.biotech@gmail.com

 Antimicrobial activity and Pharmacological values of wild Cucurbits

 

Many infectious diseases are known to the treated with herbal remedies throughout the history of mankind. Plants still continue to be almost the exclusive sources of antimicrobial compounds for the majority of the world’s population. The WHO reported that 60 % of the traditional medicine and a major part of the traditional therapies involve using of plant parts as anti-microbial agents. Therefore over the last decade there has been rapid growth in the use of alternative medicines, which are also the key compounds in future clinical microbiological and pharmacological research. Plant materials have been a valuable source of natural products for maintaining human health and the use of plant compounds for pharmaceutical purposes has gradually increased in throughout the world and particular in India. In India, there are various evidences are observed / reported that the rural and tribal communities of Odisha are using the wild plants for curing the microbial infections. The use of plant extracts and their photochemical, both with known antimicrobial properties can be of great significance in therapeutic treatment. These pharmacological work starts from the ethnobotanical knowledge obtained through the well planed questioners found from the different tribal and rural communities. They are the treasury of this heritage knowledge. Therefore, among the plant species, present study has gathered the pharmacological values of some selected wild cucurbits for highlighting their medicinal importance. Most of wild cucurbits are very easily available and used against skin infections, asthma, oral decay etc. Details are listed in Table.

Table: Pharmacological properties of selected wild cucurbits

Plant name	Parts	Ethnobotany	Sources
Cucumis melo	Fruit	Pericarp is used in kidney stone and urinary infection.	Braham and Saxena (1990)
C. melo	Seed	Seeds are diuretic promotes the production of urine	Murthy et al. (2013)
C. melo	Fruits	Used as laxative	Bahadur et al. (2013)
C. melo	Leaves	Used to treat the skin infection	Khalid et al. (2010)
Diplocyclos palmatus	Seed	Increase fertility among women and manse problems among girls	Dash et al. (2003)
D.palmatus	Leaves	Leaves are used against inflammation	Chopra et al. (1956)
D.palmatus	Seeds	Used in asthma, cholera and promotes fertility in women	Archana sing et al. (2012)
D. palmatus	Seed	Anti-inflammatory	Aref et al. (2005)
D.palmatus	Seeds	Used in diabetic	Singh et al. (2009)
D.palmatus	Fruits	Used in hysteria and Jaundice	Radha et al. (2012)
D.palmatus	Leaves	Used in colic , fever, paralysis of tongue, piles	Patel et al. (2013)
Trichosanthes cucumerina	Fruits	Used against cardiovascular dieses	Cao et al. (1996)
T.cucumerina	Fruits	Anti-diabetic activity.	Wang et al. (1996)
T.cucumerina	Root	Anti-diabetic activity.	Nadkarni (Year)
T.cucumerina	Leaves	Emetic agents	Nadkarni (Year)
T.cucumerina	Seeds	Cooling agent and antihelmintic activity	Madhava et al. (2008)
T. cucumerina	Fruits	Antidiabetic activity	Menuka et al. (2009)
T.cucumerina	Roots	Anti-Inflammatory activity	Bharatha et al. (2010)
T. tricuspidata	Fruits	Fruits are used as anti-dote	Jadhav et al. (2011)