Cucumber extracts

As for other marine life as anticancer agents, an article by Tsu-Tsair Chi in the August/September 2006 Townsend Letter for Doctors Patients describes tests in which sea cucumber extract inhibited several cancer cell lines, namely, gastric, colorectal, lung, liver, breast, and ovarian. The main effect was inhibition of angiogenesis, the proliferation of supportive blood vessels in cancerous tissue. Moss... 

Chi, T.-T. Benefits of a Special Sea Cucumber Extract in Anti-Angiogenic Therapy and RTK Inhibition for Cancer. Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, nos. 277/278 (August/September) 91-95. 

The phenolic compound content of the Cucurbitaceae is very low. Only trace amounts (3mg/ kg f w.) of neochlorogenic acid (3 -caffeoylquinic acid) were detected in one out of three zucchini (summer-squash) cultivars [40]. In an extensive study on the phenolic content of melons, watermelon, etc., only traces (ferulic acid were detected after hydrolysis. Very small antioxidant activity was reported for cucumber extracts [61], consistent with the very small phenolic compound content. However, the phenolic metabolism of melons is activated under environmental stress and wounding induces the phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) gene [62]. 

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) extract CAS 89998-01-6 EINECS/ELINCS 289-738-4 Synonyms Cucumber extract Cucumis sativus Cucumis sativus extract... 

Cucumber extract. See Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) extract... 

Although LOX from tomato fruits forms predominantly 9-hydroperoxides from linoleic and linolenic acids (Matthew et al., 1977), the cleavage enzyme from tomato does not attack these positional isomers but, rather, is specific for the 13-hydroperoxy isomers, producing hexanal or c/5-3-hexanal, respectively (Galliard and Matthew, 1977). Thus one can rationalize the formation of both Cg and C9 volatiles aldehydes in cucumber extracts with less specificity of LOX and cleavage enzymes and the absence of C9 volatiles in tomato with the substrate specificity of the cleavage enzyme. 

Extracts from 152 plant species, representing 46 different families, were screened for effects on tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) replication in cucumber cotyledons. Twenty species have shown enough activity to warrant further study. Several members of the Caprifoliaceae family increased virus replication. An extract of Lonicera involucrata enlarged the virus lesions in local lesion hosts and produced a thirty fold increase in virus titer, but had no effect on virus replication in systemic hosts. The active material appears to affect the virus defense mechanism of local lesion hosts. An extract of common geranium is an active virus inhibitor. It inactivates TMV and TMV-RNA (ribonucleic acid) in vitro by forming non-infectious complexes. In vivo, it also inhibited starch lesion formation in cucumber cotyledons incited by TMV infection. 

Cucumber cotyledons were inoculated with purified tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) 20 to 24 hours before vacuum infiltration with different concentrations of crude water extracts of plant leaves (4). After 7 days, inoculated leaves were harvested and stored 24 hours in the dark in a moist chamber to remove excess starch. Starch lesions were counted after clearing with alcohol and staining with an iodine-potassium iodide-lactic acid mixture. The inhibitory effects of various extracts were demonstrated by comparing lesion counts of treated cotyledons to counts on control cotyledons. 

Figure 1. Effect of twinberry leaf extract infiltrated 24 hours after virus inoculation on TMV starch lesion development on cucumber cotyledons...

Aqueous geranium extract inhibited TMV starch lesion formation in cucumber cotyledons. Starch lesions were completely inhibited by vacuum infiltrating effective dosages at any time between 1 and 33 hours after virus inoculation. Between 33 and 72 hours, inhibition decreased progressively. The active ingredient in the geranium extract was identified by means of ultraviolet absorption spectrum and... 

In both cases, a seeming virus stimulator (twinberry extract) and a virus inhibitor (tannic acid) operated in a more or less similar way in the cucumber-TMV system. They both affect the host defense mechanism against virus infection. The active component in twin-berry extract exhibits a mild and temporary interference, thus permitting virus to make further rounds of gain (ringlike patterns) while tannic acid produces a strong and permanent interference. 

Chlorophylls a and b and, in smaller amounts, chlorophylls a and b can be found in any photosynthetic tissue obtained from land plants. They may thus be extracted from an almost infinite number of sources [23], although it is easier to work with material containing relatively litde water as this has to be removed at later stages of the workup. Thus, woodier tissues are to be preferred as sources as compared to those containing large volumes of water, e.g., parsley rather than cucumber. 

R. Pinton, S. Cesco, M. De Nobili, S. Santi, and Z. Varanini, Water- and pyrophosphate-extractable humic substances fractions as a source of iron for Fe-dettcient cucumber plants. Biol. Fert. Soils 26 23 (1998). 

Cucumbers and potato tubers are washed, then cut into portions (5-cm pieces and quarters, respectively), and frozen. Grapes are washed, stemmed, and frozen. Frozen pieces were homogenized using a cutter portions (100-g for cucumbers and grapes, 50-g for potatoes) are weighed into the extraction vessels (screw-top jars) and stored at less than -18 °C until sample fortification and extraction. 

For cucumber, potato, grape, wine, raisin, and grain extracts... 

Copper is toxic to sensitive species of terrestrial vegetation at >40 pg/L nutrient solution (seedlings of pines, Pirns spp.), at >10 mg/kg DW leaves (cucumber, Cucumis sativus), and >60 mg extractable Cu/kg DW soil (sweet orange, Citrus sinensis Table 3.4). Among sensitive species of terrestrial invertebrates, adverse effects on survival, growth, or reproduction occur at 2 pg Cu/cm2 on paper discs (earthworms), >50 mg Cu/kg diet (larvae of gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar), and 53 to 70 mg Cu/kg DW soil (earthworms and soil nematodes Table 3.4). 

Cucumber, lettuce, grapes Chopping of produce and extraction with acetone/methylene chloride/petroleum ether (1 1 1). Evaporation to dryness and redissolution in acetone and concentration. SFC/NPD No data No data Zegers et al. 1994a... 

The lipid extracts from echinoderms have been found to contain 3.3 to 8.5% of monosaccharides. The only exception is the sea cucumber Cucumaria japonica, whose lipid extract contains 1.6% of monosaccharides, although a related species, C. fraudatrix, has been found to contain the highest proportion thereof (8.5%). It should, however, be noted that some carbohydrate-containing compounds in the lipid extracts of echinoderms may be represented not by glycolipids, but by steroid or triterpene glycosides.275"282... 

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