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Asymbiotic Germination and Leaf Explant-Based Regeneration of the Endangered Medicinal Orchid Hemipilia cucullata from Mature Seeds
Published on: September 19, 2025
Cucurbitacins from the Leaves of Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad
Rachid Chawech1,2,3, Raoudha Jarraya4, Cynthia Girardi5,6
1Université de Toulouse, UPS, Pharma-DEV, UMR 152, Université Toulouse 3, Faculté des Sciences Pharmaceutiques, F-31062 Toulouse cedex 09, France. chawech.rachid@gmail.com.
Abstract:
Two new tetracyclic cucurbitane-type triterpene glycosides were isolated from an ethyl acetate extract of Citrullus colocynthis leaves together with four known cucurbitacins. Their structures were established on the basis of their spectroscopic data (mainly NMR and mass spectrometry). Evaluation of the in vitro cytotoxic activity of the isolated compounds against two human colon cancer cell lines (HT29 and Caco-2) and one normal rat intestine epithelial cell line (IEC6), revealed that one of the isolated compounds presented interesting specific cytotoxic activity towards colorectal cell lines.
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