Bioactive Cucurbitacins

by Javed Ahamad (ed.), Leo M.L. Nollet (ed.) 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.