Research ArticleComparative Analysis of Nutritional and Bioactive Properties ofAerial Parts of Snake Gourd (Trichosanthes cucumerina Linn)

Ruvini Liyanage1 Harshani Nadeeshani2 Chathuni Jayathilake1

Rizliya Visvanathan1 and Swarna Wimalasiri2

1Division of Nutritional Biochemistry National Institute of Fundamental Studies Hantana Road Kandy Sri Lanka2Department of Food Science and Technology Faculty of Agriculture University of Peradeniya Peradeniya Sri Lanka

Correspondence should be addressed to Ruvini Liyanage ruviniifsaclk

Received 3 June 2016 Revised 5 October 2016 Accepted 20 October 2016

Academic Editor Salam A Ibrahim

Copyright copy 2016 Ruvini Liyanage et alThis is an open access article distributed under theCreativeCommonsAttribution Licensewhich permits unrestricted use distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited

The present investigation was carried out to determine the nutritional and functional properties of T cucumerina Water extracts offreeze dried flowers fruits and leaves ofT cucumerinawere evaluated for their total phenolic content (TPC) total flavonoid content(TFC) antioxidant activity 120572-amylase inhibitory activity and fiber and mineral contents Antioxidant activity TPC and TFC weresignificantly higher (119875 le 005) in leaves than in flowers and fruits A significant linear correlation was observed between the TPCTFC and antioxidant activities of plant extracts Although leaves and flower samples showed a significantly higher (119875 le 005)amylase inhibitory activity than the fruit samples the overall amylase inhibition was low in all three parts of T cucumerina Solubleand insoluble dietary fiber contents were significantly higher (119875 le 005) in fruits than in flowers and leaves Ca and K contents weresignificantly higher (119875 le 005) in leaf followed by fruit and flower andMg Fe and Zn contents were significantly higher (119875 le 005)in leaves followed by flowers and fruits In conclusion T cucumerina can be considered as a nourishing food commodity whichpossesses high nutritional and functional benefits for human health

1 Introduction

Trichosanthes cucumerina is a well-known plant the fruitof which is mainly consumed as a vegetable The plant iscommonly called snake gourd viper gourd snake tomatoor long tomato in many countries It is an annual climberbelonging to the family Cucurbitaceae and commonly grownin Asian countries including Sri Lanka India MalaysiaPeninsula and Philippines [1] The fruit is usually consumedas a vegetable due to its high nutritional value The plant isa rich source of functional constituents other than its basicnutrients such as flavonoids carotenoids phenolic acids andsoluble and insoluble dietary fibers and essential mineralswhichmakes the plant pharmacologically and therapeuticallyactive [2 3] The plant contains proteins fat fiber carbohy-drates minerals and vitaminsA and E in high levelsThe pre-dominant mineral elements are potassium (1216mg100 g)and phosphorus (135mg100 g) and also sodiummagnesiumand zinc are found in fairly high amounts [4]

In ancient medicine T cucumerina was used for treatingheadache alopecia fever abdominal tumors bilious boilsacute colic diarrhea haematuria and skin allergy It has aprominent place in medicinal systems like Ayurveda andSiddha [2] The whole plant including roots leaves fruitsand seeds is reported to show medicinal properties such asantidiabetic antibacterial anti-inflammatory anthelminticantifebrile gastroprotective and antioxidant activity [1 2 5ndash7] In Sri Lanka it is the aerial parts of T cucumerina that areused in the traditional medicinal system for treating diseaseconditions T cucumerina is one of the major ingredientsin several polyherbal preparations that are prescribed inSri Lanka for the control of Diabetes Mellitus [1 6] In astudy done by Arawwawala et al [1] the hot water extractof aerial parts of T cucumerina was found to significantlyreduce the blood glucose levels and improve the glucosetolerance of normoglycemic and STZ-induced diabetic ratsIn addition to this Arawwawala et al have done severalstudies on Sri Lankan T cucumerina and have reported it

Hindawi Publishing CorporationInternational Journal of Food ScienceVolume 2016 Article ID 8501637 7 pageshttpdxdoiorg10115520168501637

2 International Journal of Food Science

to show antioxidant [8] anti-inflammatory [9] antimicrobial[10] and gastroprotective [11] properties However to datethere are no detailed studies on the micronutrient contentand functional properties of aerial parts of Sri Lankan Tcucumerina Therefore the present study was conducted todetermine the antioxidant potential total phenolic and totalflavonoid content 120572-amylase inhibitory activity soluble andinsoluble dietary fiber content and the essential mineralelement content of T cucumerina grown in Sri Lanka

2 Material and Methods

21 Plant Samples Fresh snake gourd fruits leaves andflowers belonging to the variety TA-2 were collected fromHorticultural Crop Research and Development Institute(HORDI) Gannoruwa Sri Lanka in September 2014 Fruitsand leaves were harvested three months after cultivationwhile fruits were collected two weeks after fruit set All thechemicals and solvents used were of analytical grade

22 Preparation of Plant Extracts for Antioxidant TotalPhenolic and Total Flavonoid Assays Nearly 50 g of freshand disease-free snake gourd leaves flowers and fruits werewashedwith distilledwater and slicedThepieceswere freeze-dried ground into fine powder and stored at minus20∘C till fur-ther analysis Freeze dried samples (01 g) were homogenizedat 5000 rpm for 10 minutes in 75mL of deionized water Thehomogenized plant samples were centrifuged at 7000 rpmfor 15 minutes in a microcentrifuge (5340R Germany) Thesupernatant was filtered through Whatman 42 filter paperThe extracts were appropriately diluted with distilled waterand used for analysis

23 Total Phenolic Content (TPC) The total phenolic content(TPC) of the extracts was determined colorimetrically asdescribed by Samatha et al [12] with slightmodificationsThereaction mixture was prepared by mixing 50 120583L of sampleextract 105 120583L of 10 Folin-Ciocalteursquos reagent dissolved indeionized water 80120583L of sodium carbonate (Na2CO3 75wv) and 15 120583L of deionized water After 3 minutes Na2CO3was added and the mixture was incubated for 30 minutesat room temperature The absorbance was taken using UV-Visible microplate spectrophotometer (Multiskan 2011) at760 nm Results were expressed in terms of milligrams ofGallic acid equivalents (mg of GAE) per gram dry weight (gDW) All tests were conducted in triplicate

24 Total Flavonoid Content (TFC) Theprocedure describedby Agbo et al [13] was followed with slight modifications Avolume of 05mL of aqueous extract was taken in to a testtube and 2mL of distilled water was added followed by theaddition of 015mL of sodium nitrite (NaNO2 5 wv) andallowed to stand for 6min Afterward 015mL of aluminumtrichloride (AlCl3 10 wv) was added and incubated for6min followed by the addition of 2mL of sodium hydroxide(NaOH 4 wv) and the volume was made up to 5mL withdistilled water After 15min of incubation absorbance was

measured at 510 nmusingUV-Visiblemicroplate spectropho-tometer Results were expressed in terms of mg of catechinequivalents (CE) per gram of extract

25 Antioxidant Capacity

251 DPPH (22-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl Radical Scaveng-ing Activity) The DPPH assay was performed accordingto the method described by Sanjeevkumar et al [14] withmodificationsDPPH solution (100120583L)was added to differentvolumes (0 30 60 90 120 and 150120583L) of aqueous sampleextract and diluted with distilled water until the volumereached 250 120583L and was allowed to stand for 30 minutesin dark at room temperature The absorbance was read at517 nm The sample concentration providing 50 inhibition(IC50) was calculated

252 ABTS (221015840-Azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonicAcid)) Radical Scavenging Activity The total antioxidantcapacity of the extracts was determined using ABTS radicalThe ABTS radical was generated by reacting ABTS (125mM)with potassium persulphate (PP) (20mM) which acts as theradical generator From each extract 50120583L was mixed with150 120583L of ABTS radical solution and absorbance was readover 6 minutes at 1-minute interval at 734 nm The radicalscavenging activity after lapse of 6 minutes was calculatedas percentage of ABTS discolouration [15] Results werepresented as mM of Trolox equivalents (mM of TE) per gramdry weight (g DW)

253 Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) Assay Theability to reduce ferric ions was measured using the methoddescribed by Shukla et al [16] with some modificationsThe FRAP reagent was prepared by mixing 300mM sodiumacetate buffer (pH 36) 100mM (tripyridyl triazine) TPTZand 200mM FeCl3sdot6H2O solution in a ratio of 10 1 1respectively FRAP reagent (150 120583L) was added to 100120583L ofsample extract and the reaction mixture was incubated at37∘C for 30min The absorbance was measured at 593 nmFresh working solutions of FeSO4 were used for the standardcurveThe results were expressed as mMFe2+ equivalents pergram of sample

26 Potent 120572-Amylase Inhibitory Activity

261 Preparation of Plant Extracts for 120572-Amylase InhibitoryAssays Freeze dried snake gourd sample (01 g) was homog-enized at 5000 rpm for 15 minutes in 75mL of 1 DimethylSulphoxide (DMSO) The homogenized plant samples werecentrifuged at 7000 rpm for 15 minutes in a microcentrifugeThe supernatant was used for enzyme assays

262 DNSA (35-Dinitrosalicylic Acid) 120572-Amylase InhibitoryAssay The assay was performed according to Sudha et al[17] with slight modifications The assay mixture consisted of50 120583L of 120572-amylase from porcine pancreas (A3176 SIGMA) inphosphate buffer (PBS) (002M 67mM NaCl pH 69) and50 120583L plant extracts in different concentrations ranging from

International Journal of Food Science 3

5 to 25mgmL The content was incubated for 30 minutes atroom temperature followed by the addition of 100 120583L of 1soluble starch (S2004 SIGMA) and incubated for another 3minutes at room temperature The reaction was terminatedby adding 100120583L DNSA color reagent and placed in 85∘Cwater bath for 15 minutes After cooling the sample mixturewas diluted with 900120583L of distilled water and absorbancewas measured at 540 nmThe control samples were preparedwithout plant extracts The inhibition was calculated andthe results were expressed in terms of IC50 value Acarbosewas used as the standard inhibitor

263 Starch-Iodine 120572-Amylase Inhibitory Assay Starch-io-dine assay was carried out as described by Sudha et al [17]with slight modifications Assay reaction was initiated byadding 40 120583L of PBS 40 120583L of plant extracts in differentconcentrations (5ndash25mgmL) and 40 120583L of enzyme in PBSinto microplate wells After 10 minutes of incubation at37∘C 40 120583L of 03 soluble starch solution was added andagain incubated for another 15 minutes at 37∘C To stopthe reaction 20 120583L of 1M HCl was added followed by theaddition of 100 120583L of iodine solution (5mM I2 and 5mMKI) Immediately after addition the absorbance was taken at620 nm

264 Starch Hydrolase 120572-Amylase Inhibitory Assay Theinhibitory activities of plant extracts were quantified based onturbidity measurements according to previous work done byLiu et al [18] with slight modifications Assay was initiated byadding 100 120583L of PBS 40 120583L of enzyme solution and 40 120583L ofplant inhibitor solution The reaction mixture was incubatedfor 10 minutes at 37∘C and thereafter 100 120583L of 1 starchsolution was added and the mixture was again incubatedfor another 15 minutes at 37∘C The turbidity change wasmonitored at 660 nmThe inhibition was calculated

27 Determination of Mineral Content by Microwave AssistedDigestion This analysis was performed according to themethod described byNegi et al [19]with slightmodificationsFrom each freeze dried plant sample 02 g was digestedwith 5mL of HNO3 (69) and 1mL of H2O2 (30) ina microwave digestion system and diluted to 50mL withdeionized distilled water A blank digest was carried outin the same way The digestion condition in microwavedigestion unit was programmed as 15min ramping time10min holding time or digestion time at 180∘C and 15mincooling time Calibration curves were prepared for eachmineral using 1000 ppm stock solutions of relevant standard(Fe Zn Ca Mg and K) Necessary dilutions were done inorder to get absorbance values Mineral concentration wasgiven as mg100 g fresh weight (FW)

28 Determination of Insoluble and Soluble Dietary FiberThis analysis was performed according to the methoddescribed by Shin [20] with minor modifications Duplicatesof 1 g sample were weighed and suspended in phosphatebuffer (008M) and digested sequentially with heat-stable120572-amylase (A3306 Sigma) (pH 6 100∘C 30min) protease

(P3910 Sigma) (pH 75 60∘C 30min) and amyloglucosidase(A9913 Sigma) (pH 4ndash46 60∘C 30min) to remove proteinand starch Enzyme digestates were filtered through glassfritted crucibles Crucibles containing insoluble dietary fiberwere rinsed with dilute ethanol followed by acetone anddried overnight in a 105∘C oven and weighed to nearest01mg Filtrates plus washings were mixed with 4 volumes of95 ethanol to precipitate materials that were soluble in thedigestates After 1 h precipitates were filtered through frittedcrucibles One of each set of duplicate insoluble fiber residuesand soluble fiber residues was ashed in a muffle furnace at525∘C for 5 h Another set of residues were used to determineprotein as Kjeldahl nitrogen Soluble or insoluble dietary fiberresidues were obtained through calculation Total dietaryfiber was calculated as the sum of soluble and insolubledietary fiber

29 Statistical Analysis Data were analyzed using the SASstatistical software version 913 (SAS Institute Inc CaryNC)Results were calculated and expressed as mean plusmn standarddeviation (SD) of 3 independent analyses 119875 values of le005were considered to be significant

3 Results

31 Total Phenolic and Total Flavonoid Content Table 1 liststhe total phenolic content and the total flavonoid content ofT cucumerina aerial parts analyzed in the present study Thedifferences between the extracts for total phenolic contentwere significant (119875 le 005) Leaf samples of T cucumerinashowed the highest phenolic content whereas the fruit sam-ples showed the least As in TPC values TFC values also differin the samemanner in aerial parts of T cucumerina (Table 1)Leaf samples of T cucumerina showed the highest flavonoidcontent and the fruit samples showed the lowest phenoliccontent

32 Antioxidant Capacity In theDPPHassay (Table 1) leavessample had the lowest IC50 value which indicates that itpossessed the highest antioxidant activity (119875 le 005) amongall three samples Fruit extract showed the least significantantioxidant activity (119875 le 005) by giving the highest IC50value as 1083 plusmn 07mgmL According to the ABTS assayresults (Table 1) leaves had significantly higher (119875 le 005)antioxidant activity followed by the flower and fruit extract(Figure 1)The antioxidant data in FRAP assay also vary in thesame manner Leaves samples of T cucumerina showed thehighest antioxidant activity while the fruit samples showedthe least activity

According to statistical data the antioxidant activity ofT cucumerina was in accordance with their amount of totalphenolic and flavonoid contents (Table 2) Total phenolic andflavonoid contents showed strong positive correlation withthe ABTS and FRAP assay values and negative correlationwith IC50 values of DPPH assay

33 Potent 120572-Amylase Inhibitory Activity Results indicatethat the aerial parts of T cucumerina possess 120572-amylase

4 International Journal of Food Science

Table 1 Total phenolic content and total flavonoid content and antioxidant capacity

Plant part TPC TFC DPPH ABTS FRAP

(Dry weight) (mg GAEg) (mg CEg) IC50(mgmL) (120583mol TEg) (mM Fe2+g)

6th minuteFruits 464 plusmn 03c 077 plusmn 01c 1083 plusmn 07a 2405 plusmn 08c 040 plusmn 001b

Leaves 2739 plusmn 12a 605 plusmn 01a 308 plusmn 02b 23571 plusmn 85a 424 plusmn 008a

Flowers 1997 plusmn 16b 446 plusmn 01b 416 plusmn 01b 15919 plusmn 24b 408 plusmn 011a

Means followed by the same letter within each column are not significantly different at 119875 le 005 according to the least significant difference test

0

50

100

150

200

250

1 2 3 4 5 6

ABT

S ra

dica

l sca

veng

ing

capa

city

(120583m

ol T

Eg)

Time (min)

FruitsLeaves

Flowers

Figure 1 Changing of radical scavenging activity of ABTS assaywith time

a

b

b

a

a

aa

b

a

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Starch iodine Turbidity DNSAInhibitory method

FruitsLeaves

Flowers

Inhi

bitio

n pe

rcen

tage

() f

or p

lant

co

ncen

trat

ion

25m

gm

L

Figure 2 Potent 120572-amylase inhibitory activity values for differentassaysMeans followed by the same letter(s) (a and b)within a clusterare not significantly different at 119875 gt 005

inhibitory activity but not in significantly high level Accord-ing to the three amylase inhibitory assays none of the partsof T cucumerina gave an IC50 value within the concentrationof 25mgmL (Figure 2) Acarbose was used as the positivecontrol (Table 3)

34 Mineral Element Content Potassiumwas recorded as thehighest (119875 le 005) mineral element followed by calcium

Table 2 Correlation of antioxidant capacity and total phenolic andtotal flavonoid contents

Characteristics TPC TFC DPPH ABTS FRAPTPCTFC 0999DPPH minus0961 minus0971ABTS 0998 0995 0945FRAP 0919 0933 0991 0896

Table 3 Acarbose positive control for 120572-amylase inhibitory assays

Inhibitory method IC50(120583gmL)

Starch-iodine method 80Turbidity method 83DNSA method 78

and magnesium Iron and zinc were recorded as the leastAmong all three parts flower samples had the highestmineralelement content while the lowest was recorded in the fruitsamples except for calcium and potassium (119875 le 005) On thecontrary fruit samples were significantly high in potassium(119875 le 005) (Table 4)

35 Insoluble and Soluble Dietary Fiber Insoluble dietaryfiber (IDF) content of all three parts was higher than solubledietary fiber (SDF) When considering the total dietary fiber(TDF) content fruit samples had significantly higher fibercontent (3176 plusmn 37 g100 g) followed by flowers and leaves(2163 plusmn 171 g100 g and 995 plusmn 125 g100 g resp) (Table 5)The statistical variation was the same as in TDF for both SDFand IDF

4 Discussion

Snake gourd contains a rich variety of nutrients vitaminsand minerals that are essential for human health includ-ing significant levels of dietary fiber a small amount ofcalories and high levels of protein These medicinal plantsare reported to possess different pharmacological propertiesdue to the presence of phytochemicals such as alkaloidsflavonoids glycosides tannins and steroids It is well-knownthat antioxidative properties of plants help to protect the bodyfrom free radical damage in cell structures nucleic acidslipids proteins and other body components and therebyreduce the risk and progression of many acute and chronic

International Journal of Food Science 5

Table 4 Mineral content by microwave assisted digestion

Plant part Mineral elements (mg100 g dry weight basis)Fe Zn Ca Mg K

Fruits 481 plusmn 009c 121 plusmn 005bc 245231 plusmn 2510a 117950 plusmn 1727c 247277 plusmn 1694ab

Leaves 1172 plusmn 048ab 281 plusmn 035bc 145023 plusmn 3325bc 214612 plusmn 7488b 236789 plusmn 2245ab

Flowers 1387 plusmn 014ab 713 plusmn 005a 135188 plusmn 2447bc 253375 plusmn 2159a 137907 plusmn 1710c

Means followed by the same letter(s) within each column are not significantly different at 119875 le 005 according to the least significant difference test

Table 5 Insoluble and soluble dietary fiber

Plant part Insoluble dietary fiber Soluble dietary fiber Total dietary fiber(g100 g) (g100 g) (g100 g)

Leaves 917 plusmn 091c 078 plusmn 002c 995 plusmn 125c

Flowers 1749 plusmn 178b 414 plusmn 050b 2163 plusmn 171b

Fruits 1968 plusmn 150a 1207 plusmn 145a 3176 plusmn 370a

Means followed by the same letter(s) within each column are not significantly different at 119875 le 005 according to the least significant difference test

diseases like cancer cardiovascular diseases diabetes andother metabolic syndromes [21] The results of the presentstudy on screening the phenolic and flavonoid contents andalso the total antioxidant capacity confirmed that all threeparts ofT cucumerina possess antioxidative propertiesTheseresults are in agreement with those reported by Choudhary etal [22] in India where the leaves possessed the highest totalphenolic content while fruits possessed the lowest As in TPCvalues TFC values also differ in the same manner in aerialparts of T cucumerina According to Ademosun et al [23]the total flavonoid content of T cucumerina was significantly(119875 le 005) higher than that of a tomato variety of LycopersiconesculentumMill var esculentum

Antioxidants are substances that have the ability toneutralize free radicals In a normal healthy human body thescavenging of prooxidants such as reactive oxygen species(ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) is effectivelyregulated by various antioxidant defense systems With theexposure to adverse physicochemical environmental orpathological conditions the regularly maintained balance isshifted in favor of prooxidantsThis results in oxidative stresswhich is highly responsible for adverse health conditionsincluding autoimmune destruction in the human body [24]Hence assessing the antioxidant capacities in various foodsor herbs is important to elevate the antioxidant levels andtheir action in the body In the present study the antioxidantcapacity was measured using DPPH ABTS and FRAPassays and all three extracts were found to show potentialantioxidant activity In a study done by Choudhary et al [22]the DPPH radical scavenging activity was higher for the leafextract than the fruit extract In another study Singh andPrakash [25] reported the IC50 values for leaves and fruit as27829 plusmn 298 120583gmL and 26030 plusmn 223 120583gmL respectivelyThe antioxidant activities of T cucumerina well correlatedwith the amount of total phenolic and flavonoid contentsSeveral reports have shown a close relationship between totalphenolic content and antioxidant activities [22]

Natural plants or their products are related in retardingthe absorption of glucose by inhibiting starch hydrolyzing

enzymes such as pancreatic amylase and glucosidase Theinhibition of these enzymes delays carbohydrate digestionthereby reducing the glucose releasing rate and consequentlylowers the increase in postprandial plasma glucose Severalindigenous medicinal plants have a high potential in inhibit-ing 120572-amylase activity [26] Though the present findings didnot give significant enzyme inhibition activity for aerial partsof T cucumerina the findings of Ademosun et al [23] haveshown a higher inhibitory effect on 120572-amylase activity withan IC50 value of 215 plusmn 009mgmL

Dietary minerals and trace elements are chemical sub-stances required by living organisms in addition to car-bon hydrogen nitrogen and oxygen that are present innearly all organic moleculesThese elements perform variousfunctions including building of bones and cell structuresregulating the bodyrsquos pH carrying charge and drivingchemical reactions Minerals and trace elements are usuallyobtained through the diet Though food sources of animalorigin provide most essential minerals some plants arealso considered as rich sources of minerals Several otherresearchers have reported positive results formineral elementanalysis of T cucumerina According to Ilelaboye and Pikuda[27] T cucumerina seeds contain iron (187mgkg DM) zinc(375mgkg DM) calcium (1643mgkg DM) magnesium(1896mgkg DM) and potassium (8704mgkg DM)

Most of the foods with a low or medium glycemic indexare reported to contain considerable amounts of dietaryfiber [28 29] There are two different types of fiber solubleand insoluble Both are important for health digestion andpreventing diseases The increased satiety associated withhigh fiber foods may result in reduction of appetite due todecreased rate of digestion and absorption [30] Accordingto Braaten et al [31] among the two types of dietaryfiber the SDF fraction has shown more promising effect onlowering postprandial blood glucose values The study doneby Osuagwu and Edeoga [32] also indicated positive resultsfor total fiber content of T cucumerina leaves as 12 g100 gsimilar to that of the present study However Hettiaratchi etal [33] had reported that incorporating T cucumerina fresh

6 International Journal of Food Science

fruit into a salad meal did not increase the total fiber contentin comparison to the control meal incorporated with Lasiaspinosa rhizome

The results of this study suggest that T cucumerinais rich in phenolic compounds and has good antioxidantactivity The plant can also be considered as a good sourceof essential mineral elements and rich in both soluble andinsoluble dietary fiber Several studies have also proven thatTcucumerina possesses so many functional health benefits [1ndash11]Thus T cucumerina can be considered as a natural sourceof functional nutrients which may yield many beneficialeffects to the human body

5 Conclusion

From the present study it is concluded that the water extractof Trichosanthes cucumerina fruits leaves and flowers pos-sessed significant amounts of beneficial compounds Thehighest concentration of phenolic compounds flavonoidsand antioxidant capacity was found in the leaves and least inthe fruits The 120572-amylase inhibitory activity of the plant wasnot significant Furthermore the mineral element content ofthe leaves and flowers is considerably higher than that of thefruit while the fiber content is significantly high in the fruitcompared to the leaves and flowers

Competing Interests

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interestsregarding the publication of this paper

Acknowledgments

The research was funded by National Institute of Fundamen-tal Studies Kandy Sri Lanka

References

[1] M Arawwawala I Thabrew and L Arambewela ldquoAntidi-abetic activity of Trichosanthes cucumerina in normal andstreptozotocinndashinduced diabetic ratsrdquo International Journal ofBiological andChemical Sciences vol 3 no 2 pp 287ndash296 2009

[2] S Sandhya K R Vinod J C Sekhar R Aradhana and VS Nath ldquoAn updated review on Tricosanthes cucumerina LrdquoInternational Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Review andResearch vol 1 no 2 pp 56ndash60 2010

[3] A A Yusuf OM Folarin and F O Bamiro ldquoChemical compo-sition and functional properties of snake gourd (Trichosanthescucumerina) seed flourrdquoThe Nigerian Food Journal vol 25 no1 pp 36ndash45 2007

[4] O A Ojiako and C U Igwe ldquoThe nutritive anti-nutritive andhepatotoxic properties of Trichosanthes anguina (snake tomato)fruits from Nigeriardquo Pakistan Journal of Nutrition vol 7 no 1pp 85ndash89 2008

[5] H Kirana and B P Srinivasan ldquoTrichosanthes cucumerina Linnimproves glucose tolerance and tissue glycogen in non insulindependent diabetes mellitus induced ratsrdquo Indian Journal ofPharmacology vol 40 no 3 pp 103ndash106 2008

[6] L D A M Arawwawala M I Thabrew and L S RArambewela ldquoA review of the pharmacological properties ofTrichosanthes cucumerina Linn of Sri Lankan originrdquo UniqueJournal of Pharmaceutical and Biological Science vol 1 no 1pp 3ndash6 2013

[7] T O Ajiboye S A Akinpelu H F Muritala et al ldquoTri-chosanthes cucumerina fruit extenuates dyslipidemia proteinoxidation lipid peroxidation and DNA fragmentation in theliver of high-fat diet-fed ratsrdquo Journal of Food Biochemistry vol38 no 5 pp 480ndash490 2014

[8] M Arawwawala I Thabrew and L Arambewela ldquoIn vitroand in vivo evaluation of antioxidant activity of Trichosanthescucumerina aerial partsrdquo Acta Biologica Hungarica vol 62 no3 pp 235ndash243 2011

[9] M Arawwawala I Thabrew L Arambewela and S Handun-netti ldquoAnti-inflammatory activity of Trichosanthes cucumerinaLinn in ratsrdquo Journal of Ethnopharmacology vol 131 no 3 pp538ndash543 2010

[10] L D AMArawwawala ldquoAntibacterial activity ofTrichosanthescucumerina Linn extractsrdquo International Journal of Pharmaceu-tical amp Biological Archive vol 2 no 2 2011

[11] L D A M Arawwawala M I Thabrew and L S R Arambe-wela ldquoGastroprotective activity of Trichosanthes cucumerina inratsrdquo Journal of Ethnopharmacology vol 127 no 3 pp 750ndash7542010

[12] T Samatha R Shyamsundarachary P Srinivas and N RSwamy ldquoQuantification of total phenolic and total flavonoidcontents in extracts ofOroxylum indicum LKurzrdquoAsian Journalof Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research vol 5 no 4 pp 177ndash179 2012

[13] MOAgbo P FUzorUNAkazie-Nneji CU Eze-OdurukweU B Ogbatue and E C Mbaoji ldquoAntioxidant total phenolicand flavonoid content of selected Nigerian medicinal plantsrdquoDhaka University Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences vol 14 no1 pp 35ndash41 2015

[14] C B Sanjeevkumar R L Londonkar U M Kattegouda andN K A Tukappa ldquoScreening of in vitro antioxidant activity ofchloroform extracts of Bryonopsis laciniosa fruitsrdquo InternationalJournal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences vol 5 no3 pp 590ndash597 2016

[15] J Al-humaidi ldquoPhytochemical screening total phenolic andantioxidant activity of crude and fractionated extracts ofcynomorium coccineum growing in Saudi Arabiardquo EuropeanJournal of Medicinal Plants vol 11 no 4 pp 1ndash9 2016

[16] A Shukla R Tyagi S Vats and R K Shukla ldquoTotal phenoliccontent antioxidant activity and phytochemical screening ofhydroalcoholic extract of Casearia tomentosa leavesrdquo Journal ofChemical and Pharmaceutical Research vol 8 no 1 pp 136ndash1412016

[17] P Sudha S S Zinjarde S Y Bhargava andA R Kumar ldquoPotent120572-amylase inhibitory activity of Indian Ayurvedic medicinalplantsrdquo BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine vol 11article 5 2011

[18] T Liu L Song H Wang and D Huang ldquoA high-throughputassay for quantification of starch hydrolase inhibition basedon turbidity measurementrdquo Journal of Agricultural and FoodChemistry vol 59 no 18 pp 9756ndash9762 2011

[19] J S Negi V K Bisht A K Bhandari and R C SundriyalldquoDetermination of mineral contents of Digitalis purpurea Land Digitalis lanata Ehrhrdquo Journal of Soil Science and PlantNutrition vol 12 no 3 pp 463ndash469 2012

International Journal of Food Science 7

[20] D Shin ldquoAnalysis of dietary insoluble and soluble fiber contentsin school mealrdquoNutrition Research and Practice vol 6 no 1 pp28ndash34 2012

[21] F Alhakmani S A Khan and A Ahmad ldquoDeterminationof total phenol in-vitro antioxidant and anti-inflammatoryactivity of seeds and fruits of Zizyphus spina-christi grown inOmanrdquo Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine vol 4 ppS656ndashS660 2014

[22] S Choudhary B S Tanwer and R Vijayvergia ldquoTotal phe-nolics flavonoids and antioxidant activity of Tricosanthes cuc-umerena LinnrdquoDrug Invention Today vol 4 no 5 pp 368ndash3702012

[23] O Ademosun G Oboh T M Adewuni A J Akinyemi and TA Olasehinde ldquoAntioxidative properties and inhibition of keyenzymes linked to type-2 diabetes by snake tomato (Tricosan-thes cucumerina) and two tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum)varietiesrdquo African Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology vol7 no 33 pp 2358ndash2365 2013

[24] T P A Devasagayam J C Tilak K K Boloor K S Sane SS Ghaskadbi and R D Lele ldquoFree radicals and antioxidants inhuman health current status and future prospectsrdquo Journal ofAssociation of Physicians of India vol 52 pp 794ndash804 2004

[25] S K Singh and V Prakash ldquoScreening of antioxidant activityand phytochemicals strength of some herbal plantsrdquo Interna-tional Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences vol 5no 3 pp 296ndash300 2013

[26] I G Tamil B Dineshkumar M Nandhakumar M Senthilku-mar and A Mitra ldquoIn vitro study on 120572-amylase inhibitoryactivity of an Indian medicinal plant Phyllanthus amarusrdquoIndian Journal of Pharmacology vol 42 no 5 pp 280ndash282 2010

[27] NOA Ilelaboye andOO Pikuda ldquoDetermination ofmineralsand anti-nutritional factors of some lesser-known crop seedsrdquoPakistan Journal of Nutrition vol 8 no 10 pp 1652ndash1656 2009

[28] M O Weickert and A F H Pfeiffer ldquoMetabolic effects ofdietary fiber consumption and prevention of diabetesrdquo Journalof Nutrition vol 138 no 3 pp 439ndash442 2008

[29] J R Perry and W Ying ldquoA review of physiological effects ofsoluble and insoluble dietary fibersrdquo Journal of NutritionampFoodSciences vol 6 article 476 2016

[30] L Chambers K McCrickerd and M R Yeomans ldquoOptimisingfoods for satietyrdquo Trends in Food Science and Technology vol 41no 2 pp 149ndash160 2015

[31] J T Braaten P J Wood F W Scott K D Riedel L M PosteandMW Collins ldquoOat gum lowers glucose and insulin after anoral glucose loadrdquo The American Journal of Clinical Nutritionvol 53 no 6 pp 1425ndash1430 1991

[32] A N Osuagwu and H O Edeoga ldquoNutritional properties ofthe leaf seed and pericarp of the fruit of four Cucurbitaceaespecies from South-East Nigeriardquo IOSR Journal of Agricultureand Veterinary Science vol 7 no 9 pp 41ndash44 2014

[33] U P K Hettiaratchi S Ekanayake and J Welihinda ldquoSriLankan rice mixed meals effect on glycaemic index and con-tribution to daily dietary fibre requirementrdquoMalaysian Journalof Nutrition vol 17 no 1 pp 97ndash104 2011

Submit your manuscripts athttpwwwhindawicom

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Anatomy Research International

PeptidesInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom

International Journal of

Volume 2014

Zoology

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Molecular Biology International

GenomicsInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

The Scientific World JournalHindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

BioinformaticsAdvances in

Marine BiologyJournal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Signal TransductionJournal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

BioMed Research International

Evolutionary BiologyInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Biochemistry Research International

ArchaeaHindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Genetics Research International

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Advances in

Virolog y

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom

Nucleic AcidsJournal of

Volume 2014

Stem CellsInternational

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Enzyme Research

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

International Journal of

Microbiology

2 International Journal of Food Science

to show antioxidant [8] anti-inflammatory [9] antimicrobial[10] and gastroprotective [11] properties However to datethere are no detailed studies on the micronutrient contentand functional properties of aerial parts of Sri Lankan Tcucumerina Therefore the present study was conducted todetermine the antioxidant potential total phenolic and totalflavonoid content 120572-amylase inhibitory activity soluble andinsoluble dietary fiber content and the essential mineralelement content of T cucumerina grown in Sri Lanka

2 Material and Methods

21 Plant Samples Fresh snake gourd fruits leaves andflowers belonging to the variety TA-2 were collected fromHorticultural Crop Research and Development Institute(HORDI) Gannoruwa Sri Lanka in September 2014 Fruitsand leaves were harvested three months after cultivationwhile fruits were collected two weeks after fruit set All thechemicals and solvents used were of analytical grade

22 Preparation of Plant Extracts for Antioxidant TotalPhenolic and Total Flavonoid Assays Nearly 50 g of freshand disease-free snake gourd leaves flowers and fruits werewashedwith distilledwater and slicedThepieceswere freeze-dried ground into fine powder and stored at minus20∘C till fur-ther analysis Freeze dried samples (01 g) were homogenizedat 5000 rpm for 10 minutes in 75mL of deionized water Thehomogenized plant samples were centrifuged at 7000 rpmfor 15 minutes in a microcentrifuge (5340R Germany) Thesupernatant was filtered through Whatman 42 filter paperThe extracts were appropriately diluted with distilled waterand used for analysis

23 Total Phenolic Content (TPC) The total phenolic content(TPC) of the extracts was determined colorimetrically asdescribed by Samatha et al [12] with slightmodificationsThereaction mixture was prepared by mixing 50 120583L of sampleextract 105 120583L of 10 Folin-Ciocalteursquos reagent dissolved indeionized water 80120583L of sodium carbonate (Na2CO3 75wv) and 15 120583L of deionized water After 3 minutes Na2CO3was added and the mixture was incubated for 30 minutesat room temperature The absorbance was taken using UV-Visible microplate spectrophotometer (Multiskan 2011) at760 nm Results were expressed in terms of milligrams ofGallic acid equivalents (mg of GAE) per gram dry weight (gDW) All tests were conducted in triplicate

24 Total Flavonoid Content (TFC) Theprocedure describedby Agbo et al [13] was followed with slight modifications Avolume of 05mL of aqueous extract was taken in to a testtube and 2mL of distilled water was added followed by theaddition of 015mL of sodium nitrite (NaNO2 5 wv) andallowed to stand for 6min Afterward 015mL of aluminumtrichloride (AlCl3 10 wv) was added and incubated for6min followed by the addition of 2mL of sodium hydroxide(NaOH 4 wv) and the volume was made up to 5mL withdistilled water After 15min of incubation absorbance was

measured at 510 nmusingUV-Visiblemicroplate spectropho-tometer Results were expressed in terms of mg of catechinequivalents (CE) per gram of extract

25 Antioxidant Capacity

251 DPPH (22-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl Radical Scaveng-ing Activity) The DPPH assay was performed accordingto the method described by Sanjeevkumar et al [14] withmodificationsDPPH solution (100120583L)was added to differentvolumes (0 30 60 90 120 and 150120583L) of aqueous sampleextract and diluted with distilled water until the volumereached 250 120583L and was allowed to stand for 30 minutesin dark at room temperature The absorbance was read at517 nm The sample concentration providing 50 inhibition(IC50) was calculated

252 ABTS (221015840-Azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonicAcid)) Radical Scavenging Activity The total antioxidantcapacity of the extracts was determined using ABTS radicalThe ABTS radical was generated by reacting ABTS (125mM)with potassium persulphate (PP) (20mM) which acts as theradical generator From each extract 50120583L was mixed with150 120583L of ABTS radical solution and absorbance was readover 6 minutes at 1-minute interval at 734 nm The radicalscavenging activity after lapse of 6 minutes was calculatedas percentage of ABTS discolouration [15] Results werepresented as mM of Trolox equivalents (mM of TE) per gramdry weight (g DW)

253 Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) Assay Theability to reduce ferric ions was measured using the methoddescribed by Shukla et al [16] with some modificationsThe FRAP reagent was prepared by mixing 300mM sodiumacetate buffer (pH 36) 100mM (tripyridyl triazine) TPTZand 200mM FeCl3sdot6H2O solution in a ratio of 10 1 1respectively FRAP reagent (150 120583L) was added to 100120583L ofsample extract and the reaction mixture was incubated at37∘C for 30min The absorbance was measured at 593 nmFresh working solutions of FeSO4 were used for the standardcurveThe results were expressed as mMFe2+ equivalents pergram of sample

26 Potent 120572-Amylase Inhibitory Activity

261 Preparation of Plant Extracts for 120572-Amylase InhibitoryAssays Freeze dried snake gourd sample (01 g) was homog-enized at 5000 rpm for 15 minutes in 75mL of 1 DimethylSulphoxide (DMSO) The homogenized plant samples werecentrifuged at 7000 rpm for 15 minutes in a microcentrifugeThe supernatant was used for enzyme assays

262 DNSA (35-Dinitrosalicylic Acid) 120572-Amylase InhibitoryAssay The assay was performed according to Sudha et al[17] with slight modifications The assay mixture consisted of50 120583L of 120572-amylase from porcine pancreas (A3176 SIGMA) inphosphate buffer (PBS) (002M 67mM NaCl pH 69) and50 120583L plant extracts in different concentrations ranging from

International Journal of Food Science 3

5 to 25mgmL The content was incubated for 30 minutes atroom temperature followed by the addition of 100 120583L of 1soluble starch (S2004 SIGMA) and incubated for another 3minutes at room temperature The reaction was terminatedby adding 100120583L DNSA color reagent and placed in 85∘Cwater bath for 15 minutes After cooling the sample mixturewas diluted with 900120583L of distilled water and absorbancewas measured at 540 nmThe control samples were preparedwithout plant extracts The inhibition was calculated andthe results were expressed in terms of IC50 value Acarbosewas used as the standard inhibitor

263 Starch-Iodine 120572-Amylase Inhibitory Assay Starch-io-dine assay was carried out as described by Sudha et al [17]with slight modifications Assay reaction was initiated byadding 40 120583L of PBS 40 120583L of plant extracts in differentconcentrations (5ndash25mgmL) and 40 120583L of enzyme in PBSinto microplate wells After 10 minutes of incubation at37∘C 40 120583L of 03 soluble starch solution was added andagain incubated for another 15 minutes at 37∘C To stopthe reaction 20 120583L of 1M HCl was added followed by theaddition of 100 120583L of iodine solution (5mM I2 and 5mMKI) Immediately after addition the absorbance was taken at620 nm

264 Starch Hydrolase 120572-Amylase Inhibitory Assay Theinhibitory activities of plant extracts were quantified based onturbidity measurements according to previous work done byLiu et al [18] with slight modifications Assay was initiated byadding 100 120583L of PBS 40 120583L of enzyme solution and 40 120583L ofplant inhibitor solution The reaction mixture was incubatedfor 10 minutes at 37∘C and thereafter 100 120583L of 1 starchsolution was added and the mixture was again incubatedfor another 15 minutes at 37∘C The turbidity change wasmonitored at 660 nmThe inhibition was calculated

27 Determination of Mineral Content by Microwave AssistedDigestion This analysis was performed according to themethod described byNegi et al [19]with slightmodificationsFrom each freeze dried plant sample 02 g was digestedwith 5mL of HNO3 (69) and 1mL of H2O2 (30) ina microwave digestion system and diluted to 50mL withdeionized distilled water A blank digest was carried outin the same way The digestion condition in microwavedigestion unit was programmed as 15min ramping time10min holding time or digestion time at 180∘C and 15mincooling time Calibration curves were prepared for eachmineral using 1000 ppm stock solutions of relevant standard(Fe Zn Ca Mg and K) Necessary dilutions were done inorder to get absorbance values Mineral concentration wasgiven as mg100 g fresh weight (FW)

28 Determination of Insoluble and Soluble Dietary FiberThis analysis was performed according to the methoddescribed by Shin [20] with minor modifications Duplicatesof 1 g sample were weighed and suspended in phosphatebuffer (008M) and digested sequentially with heat-stable120572-amylase (A3306 Sigma) (pH 6 100∘C 30min) protease

(P3910 Sigma) (pH 75 60∘C 30min) and amyloglucosidase(A9913 Sigma) (pH 4ndash46 60∘C 30min) to remove proteinand starch Enzyme digestates were filtered through glassfritted crucibles Crucibles containing insoluble dietary fiberwere rinsed with dilute ethanol followed by acetone anddried overnight in a 105∘C oven and weighed to nearest01mg Filtrates plus washings were mixed with 4 volumes of95 ethanol to precipitate materials that were soluble in thedigestates After 1 h precipitates were filtered through frittedcrucibles One of each set of duplicate insoluble fiber residuesand soluble fiber residues was ashed in a muffle furnace at525∘C for 5 h Another set of residues were used to determineprotein as Kjeldahl nitrogen Soluble or insoluble dietary fiberresidues were obtained through calculation Total dietaryfiber was calculated as the sum of soluble and insolubledietary fiber

29 Statistical Analysis Data were analyzed using the SASstatistical software version 913 (SAS Institute Inc CaryNC)Results were calculated and expressed as mean plusmn standarddeviation (SD) of 3 independent analyses 119875 values of le005were considered to be significant

3 Results

31 Total Phenolic and Total Flavonoid Content Table 1 liststhe total phenolic content and the total flavonoid content ofT cucumerina aerial parts analyzed in the present study Thedifferences between the extracts for total phenolic contentwere significant (119875 le 005) Leaf samples of T cucumerinashowed the highest phenolic content whereas the fruit sam-ples showed the least As in TPC values TFC values also differin the samemanner in aerial parts of T cucumerina (Table 1)Leaf samples of T cucumerina showed the highest flavonoidcontent and the fruit samples showed the lowest phenoliccontent

32 Antioxidant Capacity In theDPPHassay (Table 1) leavessample had the lowest IC50 value which indicates that itpossessed the highest antioxidant activity (119875 le 005) amongall three samples Fruit extract showed the least significantantioxidant activity (119875 le 005) by giving the highest IC50value as 1083 plusmn 07mgmL According to the ABTS assayresults (Table 1) leaves had significantly higher (119875 le 005)antioxidant activity followed by the flower and fruit extract(Figure 1)The antioxidant data in FRAP assay also vary in thesame manner Leaves samples of T cucumerina showed thehighest antioxidant activity while the fruit samples showedthe least activity

According to statistical data the antioxidant activity ofT cucumerina was in accordance with their amount of totalphenolic and flavonoid contents (Table 2) Total phenolic andflavonoid contents showed strong positive correlation withthe ABTS and FRAP assay values and negative correlationwith IC50 values of DPPH assay

33 Potent 120572-Amylase Inhibitory Activity Results indicatethat the aerial parts of T cucumerina possess 120572-amylase

4 International Journal of Food Science

Table 1 Total phenolic content and total flavonoid content and antioxidant capacity

Plant part TPC TFC DPPH ABTS FRAP

(Dry weight) (mg GAEg) (mg CEg) IC50(mgmL) (120583mol TEg) (mM Fe2+g)

6th minuteFruits 464 plusmn 03c 077 plusmn 01c 1083 plusmn 07a 2405 plusmn 08c 040 plusmn 001b

Leaves 2739 plusmn 12a 605 plusmn 01a 308 plusmn 02b 23571 plusmn 85a 424 plusmn 008a

Flowers 1997 plusmn 16b 446 plusmn 01b 416 plusmn 01b 15919 plusmn 24b 408 plusmn 011a

Means followed by the same letter within each column are not significantly different at 119875 le 005 according to the least significant difference test

0

50

100

150

200

250

1 2 3 4 5 6

ABT

S ra

dica

l sca

veng

ing

capa

city

(120583m

ol T

Eg)

Time (min)

FruitsLeaves

Flowers

Figure 1 Changing of radical scavenging activity of ABTS assaywith time

a

b

b

a

a

aa

b

a

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Starch iodine Turbidity DNSAInhibitory method

FruitsLeaves

Flowers

Inhi

bitio

n pe

rcen

tage

() f

or p

lant

co

ncen

trat

ion

25m

gm

L

Figure 2 Potent 120572-amylase inhibitory activity values for differentassaysMeans followed by the same letter(s) (a and b)within a clusterare not significantly different at 119875 gt 005

inhibitory activity but not in significantly high level Accord-ing to the three amylase inhibitory assays none of the partsof T cucumerina gave an IC50 value within the concentrationof 25mgmL (Figure 2) Acarbose was used as the positivecontrol (Table 3)

34 Mineral Element Content Potassiumwas recorded as thehighest (119875 le 005) mineral element followed by calcium

Table 2 Correlation of antioxidant capacity and total phenolic andtotal flavonoid contents

Characteristics TPC TFC DPPH ABTS FRAPTPCTFC 0999DPPH minus0961 minus0971ABTS 0998 0995 0945FRAP 0919 0933 0991 0896

Table 3 Acarbose positive control for 120572-amylase inhibitory assays

Inhibitory method IC50(120583gmL)

Starch-iodine method 80Turbidity method 83DNSA method 78

and magnesium Iron and zinc were recorded as the leastAmong all three parts flower samples had the highestmineralelement content while the lowest was recorded in the fruitsamples except for calcium and potassium (119875 le 005) On thecontrary fruit samples were significantly high in potassium(119875 le 005) (Table 4)

35 Insoluble and Soluble Dietary Fiber Insoluble dietaryfiber (IDF) content of all three parts was higher than solubledietary fiber (SDF) When considering the total dietary fiber(TDF) content fruit samples had significantly higher fibercontent (3176 plusmn 37 g100 g) followed by flowers and leaves(2163 plusmn 171 g100 g and 995 plusmn 125 g100 g resp) (Table 5)The statistical variation was the same as in TDF for both SDFand IDF

4 Discussion

Snake gourd contains a rich variety of nutrients vitaminsand minerals that are essential for human health includ-ing significant levels of dietary fiber a small amount ofcalories and high levels of protein These medicinal plantsare reported to possess different pharmacological propertiesdue to the presence of phytochemicals such as alkaloidsflavonoids glycosides tannins and steroids It is well-knownthat antioxidative properties of plants help to protect the bodyfrom free radical damage in cell structures nucleic acidslipids proteins and other body components and therebyreduce the risk and progression of many acute and chronic

International Journal of Food Science 5

Table 4 Mineral content by microwave assisted digestion

Plant part Mineral elements (mg100 g dry weight basis)Fe Zn Ca Mg K

Fruits 481 plusmn 009c 121 plusmn 005bc 245231 plusmn 2510a 117950 plusmn 1727c 247277 plusmn 1694ab

Leaves 1172 plusmn 048ab 281 plusmn 035bc 145023 plusmn 3325bc 214612 plusmn 7488b 236789 plusmn 2245ab

Flowers 1387 plusmn 014ab 713 plusmn 005a 135188 plusmn 2447bc 253375 plusmn 2159a 137907 plusmn 1710c

Means followed by the same letter(s) within each column are not significantly different at 119875 le 005 according to the least significant difference test

Table 5 Insoluble and soluble dietary fiber

Plant part Insoluble dietary fiber Soluble dietary fiber Total dietary fiber(g100 g) (g100 g) (g100 g)

Leaves 917 plusmn 091c 078 plusmn 002c 995 plusmn 125c

Flowers 1749 plusmn 178b 414 plusmn 050b 2163 plusmn 171b

Fruits 1968 plusmn 150a 1207 plusmn 145a 3176 plusmn 370a

Means followed by the same letter(s) within each column are not significantly different at 119875 le 005 according to the least significant difference test

diseases like cancer cardiovascular diseases diabetes andother metabolic syndromes [21] The results of the presentstudy on screening the phenolic and flavonoid contents andalso the total antioxidant capacity confirmed that all threeparts ofT cucumerina possess antioxidative propertiesTheseresults are in agreement with those reported by Choudhary etal [22] in India where the leaves possessed the highest totalphenolic content while fruits possessed the lowest As in TPCvalues TFC values also differ in the same manner in aerialparts of T cucumerina According to Ademosun et al [23]the total flavonoid content of T cucumerina was significantly(119875 le 005) higher than that of a tomato variety of LycopersiconesculentumMill var esculentum

Antioxidants are substances that have the ability toneutralize free radicals In a normal healthy human body thescavenging of prooxidants such as reactive oxygen species(ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) is effectivelyregulated by various antioxidant defense systems With theexposure to adverse physicochemical environmental orpathological conditions the regularly maintained balance isshifted in favor of prooxidantsThis results in oxidative stresswhich is highly responsible for adverse health conditionsincluding autoimmune destruction in the human body [24]Hence assessing the antioxidant capacities in various foodsor herbs is important to elevate the antioxidant levels andtheir action in the body In the present study the antioxidantcapacity was measured using DPPH ABTS and FRAPassays and all three extracts were found to show potentialantioxidant activity In a study done by Choudhary et al [22]the DPPH radical scavenging activity was higher for the leafextract than the fruit extract In another study Singh andPrakash [25] reported the IC50 values for leaves and fruit as27829 plusmn 298 120583gmL and 26030 plusmn 223 120583gmL respectivelyThe antioxidant activities of T cucumerina well correlatedwith the amount of total phenolic and flavonoid contentsSeveral reports have shown a close relationship between totalphenolic content and antioxidant activities [22]

Natural plants or their products are related in retardingthe absorption of glucose by inhibiting starch hydrolyzing

enzymes such as pancreatic amylase and glucosidase Theinhibition of these enzymes delays carbohydrate digestionthereby reducing the glucose releasing rate and consequentlylowers the increase in postprandial plasma glucose Severalindigenous medicinal plants have a high potential in inhibit-ing 120572-amylase activity [26] Though the present findings didnot give significant enzyme inhibition activity for aerial partsof T cucumerina the findings of Ademosun et al [23] haveshown a higher inhibitory effect on 120572-amylase activity withan IC50 value of 215 plusmn 009mgmL

Dietary minerals and trace elements are chemical sub-stances required by living organisms in addition to car-bon hydrogen nitrogen and oxygen that are present innearly all organic moleculesThese elements perform variousfunctions including building of bones and cell structuresregulating the bodyrsquos pH carrying charge and drivingchemical reactions Minerals and trace elements are usuallyobtained through the diet Though food sources of animalorigin provide most essential minerals some plants arealso considered as rich sources of minerals Several otherresearchers have reported positive results formineral elementanalysis of T cucumerina According to Ilelaboye and Pikuda[27] T cucumerina seeds contain iron (187mgkg DM) zinc(375mgkg DM) calcium (1643mgkg DM) magnesium(1896mgkg DM) and potassium (8704mgkg DM)

Most of the foods with a low or medium glycemic indexare reported to contain considerable amounts of dietaryfiber [28 29] There are two different types of fiber solubleand insoluble Both are important for health digestion andpreventing diseases The increased satiety associated withhigh fiber foods may result in reduction of appetite due todecreased rate of digestion and absorption [30] Accordingto Braaten et al [31] among the two types of dietaryfiber the SDF fraction has shown more promising effect onlowering postprandial blood glucose values The study doneby Osuagwu and Edeoga [32] also indicated positive resultsfor total fiber content of T cucumerina leaves as 12 g100 gsimilar to that of the present study However Hettiaratchi etal [33] had reported that incorporating T cucumerina fresh

6 International Journal of Food Science

fruit into a salad meal did not increase the total fiber contentin comparison to the control meal incorporated with Lasiaspinosa rhizome

The results of this study suggest that T cucumerinais rich in phenolic compounds and has good antioxidantactivity The plant can also be considered as a good sourceof essential mineral elements and rich in both soluble andinsoluble dietary fiber Several studies have also proven thatTcucumerina possesses so many functional health benefits [1ndash11]Thus T cucumerina can be considered as a natural sourceof functional nutrients which may yield many beneficialeffects to the human body

5 Conclusion

From the present study it is concluded that the water extractof Trichosanthes cucumerina fruits leaves and flowers pos-sessed significant amounts of beneficial compounds Thehighest concentration of phenolic compounds flavonoidsand antioxidant capacity was found in the leaves and least inthe fruits The 120572-amylase inhibitory activity of the plant wasnot significant Furthermore the mineral element content ofthe leaves and flowers is considerably higher than that of thefruit while the fiber content is significantly high in the fruitcompared to the leaves and flowers

Competing Interests

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interestsregarding the publication of this paper

Acknowledgments

The research was funded by National Institute of Fundamen-tal Studies Kandy Sri Lanka

References

[1] M Arawwawala I Thabrew and L Arambewela ldquoAntidi-abetic activity of Trichosanthes cucumerina in normal andstreptozotocinndashinduced diabetic ratsrdquo International Journal ofBiological andChemical Sciences vol 3 no 2 pp 287ndash296 2009

[2] S Sandhya K R Vinod J C Sekhar R Aradhana and VS Nath ldquoAn updated review on Tricosanthes cucumerina LrdquoInternational Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Review andResearch vol 1 no 2 pp 56ndash60 2010

[3] A A Yusuf OM Folarin and F O Bamiro ldquoChemical compo-sition and functional properties of snake gourd (Trichosanthescucumerina) seed flourrdquoThe Nigerian Food Journal vol 25 no1 pp 36ndash45 2007

[4] O A Ojiako and C U Igwe ldquoThe nutritive anti-nutritive andhepatotoxic properties of Trichosanthes anguina (snake tomato)fruits from Nigeriardquo Pakistan Journal of Nutrition vol 7 no 1pp 85ndash89 2008

[5] H Kirana and B P Srinivasan ldquoTrichosanthes cucumerina Linnimproves glucose tolerance and tissue glycogen in non insulindependent diabetes mellitus induced ratsrdquo Indian Journal ofPharmacology vol 40 no 3 pp 103ndash106 2008

[6] L D A M Arawwawala M I Thabrew and L S RArambewela ldquoA review of the pharmacological properties ofTrichosanthes cucumerina Linn of Sri Lankan originrdquo UniqueJournal of Pharmaceutical and Biological Science vol 1 no 1pp 3ndash6 2013

[7] T O Ajiboye S A Akinpelu H F Muritala et al ldquoTri-chosanthes cucumerina fruit extenuates dyslipidemia proteinoxidation lipid peroxidation and DNA fragmentation in theliver of high-fat diet-fed ratsrdquo Journal of Food Biochemistry vol38 no 5 pp 480ndash490 2014

[8] M Arawwawala I Thabrew and L Arambewela ldquoIn vitroand in vivo evaluation of antioxidant activity of Trichosanthescucumerina aerial partsrdquo Acta Biologica Hungarica vol 62 no3 pp 235ndash243 2011

[9] M Arawwawala I Thabrew L Arambewela and S Handun-netti ldquoAnti-inflammatory activity of Trichosanthes cucumerinaLinn in ratsrdquo Journal of Ethnopharmacology vol 131 no 3 pp538ndash543 2010

[10] L D AMArawwawala ldquoAntibacterial activity ofTrichosanthescucumerina Linn extractsrdquo International Journal of Pharmaceu-tical amp Biological Archive vol 2 no 2 2011

[11] L D A M Arawwawala M I Thabrew and L S R Arambe-wela ldquoGastroprotective activity of Trichosanthes cucumerina inratsrdquo Journal of Ethnopharmacology vol 127 no 3 pp 750ndash7542010

[12] T Samatha R Shyamsundarachary P Srinivas and N RSwamy ldquoQuantification of total phenolic and total flavonoidcontents in extracts ofOroxylum indicum LKurzrdquoAsian Journalof Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research vol 5 no 4 pp 177ndash179 2012

[13] MOAgbo P FUzorUNAkazie-Nneji CU Eze-OdurukweU B Ogbatue and E C Mbaoji ldquoAntioxidant total phenolicand flavonoid content of selected Nigerian medicinal plantsrdquoDhaka University Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences vol 14 no1 pp 35ndash41 2015

[14] C B Sanjeevkumar R L Londonkar U M Kattegouda andN K A Tukappa ldquoScreening of in vitro antioxidant activity ofchloroform extracts of Bryonopsis laciniosa fruitsrdquo InternationalJournal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences vol 5 no3 pp 590ndash597 2016

[15] J Al-humaidi ldquoPhytochemical screening total phenolic andantioxidant activity of crude and fractionated extracts ofcynomorium coccineum growing in Saudi Arabiardquo EuropeanJournal of Medicinal Plants vol 11 no 4 pp 1ndash9 2016

[16] A Shukla R Tyagi S Vats and R K Shukla ldquoTotal phenoliccontent antioxidant activity and phytochemical screening ofhydroalcoholic extract of Casearia tomentosa leavesrdquo Journal ofChemical and Pharmaceutical Research vol 8 no 1 pp 136ndash1412016

[17] P Sudha S S Zinjarde S Y Bhargava andA R Kumar ldquoPotent120572-amylase inhibitory activity of Indian Ayurvedic medicinalplantsrdquo BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine vol 11article 5 2011

[18] T Liu L Song H Wang and D Huang ldquoA high-throughputassay for quantification of starch hydrolase inhibition basedon turbidity measurementrdquo Journal of Agricultural and FoodChemistry vol 59 no 18 pp 9756ndash9762 2011

[19] J S Negi V K Bisht A K Bhandari and R C SundriyalldquoDetermination of mineral contents of Digitalis purpurea Land Digitalis lanata Ehrhrdquo Journal of Soil Science and PlantNutrition vol 12 no 3 pp 463ndash469 2012

International Journal of Food Science 7

[20] D Shin ldquoAnalysis of dietary insoluble and soluble fiber contentsin school mealrdquoNutrition Research and Practice vol 6 no 1 pp28ndash34 2012

[21] F Alhakmani S A Khan and A Ahmad ldquoDeterminationof total phenol in-vitro antioxidant and anti-inflammatoryactivity of seeds and fruits of Zizyphus spina-christi grown inOmanrdquo Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine vol 4 ppS656ndashS660 2014

[22] S Choudhary B S Tanwer and R Vijayvergia ldquoTotal phe-nolics flavonoids and antioxidant activity of Tricosanthes cuc-umerena LinnrdquoDrug Invention Today vol 4 no 5 pp 368ndash3702012

[23] O Ademosun G Oboh T M Adewuni A J Akinyemi and TA Olasehinde ldquoAntioxidative properties and inhibition of keyenzymes linked to type-2 diabetes by snake tomato (Tricosan-thes cucumerina) and two tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum)varietiesrdquo African Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology vol7 no 33 pp 2358ndash2365 2013

[24] T P A Devasagayam J C Tilak K K Boloor K S Sane SS Ghaskadbi and R D Lele ldquoFree radicals and antioxidants inhuman health current status and future prospectsrdquo Journal ofAssociation of Physicians of India vol 52 pp 794ndash804 2004

[25] S K Singh and V Prakash ldquoScreening of antioxidant activityand phytochemicals strength of some herbal plantsrdquo Interna-tional Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences vol 5no 3 pp 296ndash300 2013

[26] I G Tamil B Dineshkumar M Nandhakumar M Senthilku-mar and A Mitra ldquoIn vitro study on 120572-amylase inhibitoryactivity of an Indian medicinal plant Phyllanthus amarusrdquoIndian Journal of Pharmacology vol 42 no 5 pp 280ndash282 2010

[27] NOA Ilelaboye andOO Pikuda ldquoDetermination ofmineralsand anti-nutritional factors of some lesser-known crop seedsrdquoPakistan Journal of Nutrition vol 8 no 10 pp 1652ndash1656 2009

[28] M O Weickert and A F H Pfeiffer ldquoMetabolic effects ofdietary fiber consumption and prevention of diabetesrdquo Journalof Nutrition vol 138 no 3 pp 439ndash442 2008

[29] J R Perry and W Ying ldquoA review of physiological effects ofsoluble and insoluble dietary fibersrdquo Journal of NutritionampFoodSciences vol 6 article 476 2016

[30] L Chambers K McCrickerd and M R Yeomans ldquoOptimisingfoods for satietyrdquo Trends in Food Science and Technology vol 41no 2 pp 149ndash160 2015

[31] J T Braaten P J Wood F W Scott K D Riedel L M PosteandMW Collins ldquoOat gum lowers glucose and insulin after anoral glucose loadrdquo The American Journal of Clinical Nutritionvol 53 no 6 pp 1425ndash1430 1991

[32] A N Osuagwu and H O Edeoga ldquoNutritional properties ofthe leaf seed and pericarp of the fruit of four Cucurbitaceaespecies from South-East Nigeriardquo IOSR Journal of Agricultureand Veterinary Science vol 7 no 9 pp 41ndash44 2014

[33] U P K Hettiaratchi S Ekanayake and J Welihinda ldquoSriLankan rice mixed meals effect on glycaemic index and con-tribution to daily dietary fibre requirementrdquoMalaysian Journalof Nutrition vol 17 no 1 pp 97ndash104 2011

Submit your manuscripts athttpwwwhindawicom

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Anatomy Research International

PeptidesInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom

International Journal of

Volume 2014

Zoology

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Molecular Biology International

GenomicsInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

The Scientific World JournalHindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

BioinformaticsAdvances in

Marine BiologyJournal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Signal TransductionJournal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

BioMed Research International

Evolutionary BiologyInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Biochemistry Research International

ArchaeaHindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Genetics Research International

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Advances in

Virolog y

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom

Nucleic AcidsJournal of

Volume 2014

Stem CellsInternational

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Enzyme Research

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

International Journal of

Microbiology

International Journal of Food Science 3

5 to 25mgmL The content was incubated for 30 minutes atroom temperature followed by the addition of 100 120583L of 1soluble starch (S2004 SIGMA) and incubated for another 3minutes at room temperature The reaction was terminatedby adding 100120583L DNSA color reagent and placed in 85∘Cwater bath for 15 minutes After cooling the sample mixturewas diluted with 900120583L of distilled water and absorbancewas measured at 540 nmThe control samples were preparedwithout plant extracts The inhibition was calculated andthe results were expressed in terms of IC50 value Acarbosewas used as the standard inhibitor

263 Starch-Iodine 120572-Amylase Inhibitory Assay Starch-io-dine assay was carried out as described by Sudha et al [17]with slight modifications Assay reaction was initiated byadding 40 120583L of PBS 40 120583L of plant extracts in differentconcentrations (5ndash25mgmL) and 40 120583L of enzyme in PBSinto microplate wells After 10 minutes of incubation at37∘C 40 120583L of 03 soluble starch solution was added andagain incubated for another 15 minutes at 37∘C To stopthe reaction 20 120583L of 1M HCl was added followed by theaddition of 100 120583L of iodine solution (5mM I2 and 5mMKI) Immediately after addition the absorbance was taken at620 nm

264 Starch Hydrolase 120572-Amylase Inhibitory Assay Theinhibitory activities of plant extracts were quantified based onturbidity measurements according to previous work done byLiu et al [18] with slight modifications Assay was initiated byadding 100 120583L of PBS 40 120583L of enzyme solution and 40 120583L ofplant inhibitor solution The reaction mixture was incubatedfor 10 minutes at 37∘C and thereafter 100 120583L of 1 starchsolution was added and the mixture was again incubatedfor another 15 minutes at 37∘C The turbidity change wasmonitored at 660 nmThe inhibition was calculated

27 Determination of Mineral Content by Microwave AssistedDigestion This analysis was performed according to themethod described byNegi et al [19]with slightmodificationsFrom each freeze dried plant sample 02 g was digestedwith 5mL of HNO3 (69) and 1mL of H2O2 (30) ina microwave digestion system and diluted to 50mL withdeionized distilled water A blank digest was carried outin the same way The digestion condition in microwavedigestion unit was programmed as 15min ramping time10min holding time or digestion time at 180∘C and 15mincooling time Calibration curves were prepared for eachmineral using 1000 ppm stock solutions of relevant standard(Fe Zn Ca Mg and K) Necessary dilutions were done inorder to get absorbance values Mineral concentration wasgiven as mg100 g fresh weight (FW)

28 Determination of Insoluble and Soluble Dietary FiberThis analysis was performed according to the methoddescribed by Shin [20] with minor modifications Duplicatesof 1 g sample were weighed and suspended in phosphatebuffer (008M) and digested sequentially with heat-stable120572-amylase (A3306 Sigma) (pH 6 100∘C 30min) protease

(P3910 Sigma) (pH 75 60∘C 30min) and amyloglucosidase(A9913 Sigma) (pH 4ndash46 60∘C 30min) to remove proteinand starch Enzyme digestates were filtered through glassfritted crucibles Crucibles containing insoluble dietary fiberwere rinsed with dilute ethanol followed by acetone anddried overnight in a 105∘C oven and weighed to nearest01mg Filtrates plus washings were mixed with 4 volumes of95 ethanol to precipitate materials that were soluble in thedigestates After 1 h precipitates were filtered through frittedcrucibles One of each set of duplicate insoluble fiber residuesand soluble fiber residues was ashed in a muffle furnace at525∘C for 5 h Another set of residues were used to determineprotein as Kjeldahl nitrogen Soluble or insoluble dietary fiberresidues were obtained through calculation Total dietaryfiber was calculated as the sum of soluble and insolubledietary fiber

29 Statistical Analysis Data were analyzed using the SASstatistical software version 913 (SAS Institute Inc CaryNC)Results were calculated and expressed as mean plusmn standarddeviation (SD) of 3 independent analyses 119875 values of le005were considered to be significant

3 Results

31 Total Phenolic and Total Flavonoid Content Table 1 liststhe total phenolic content and the total flavonoid content ofT cucumerina aerial parts analyzed in the present study Thedifferences between the extracts for total phenolic contentwere significant (119875 le 005) Leaf samples of T cucumerinashowed the highest phenolic content whereas the fruit sam-ples showed the least As in TPC values TFC values also differin the samemanner in aerial parts of T cucumerina (Table 1)Leaf samples of T cucumerina showed the highest flavonoidcontent and the fruit samples showed the lowest phenoliccontent

32 Antioxidant Capacity In theDPPHassay (Table 1) leavessample had the lowest IC50 value which indicates that itpossessed the highest antioxidant activity (119875 le 005) amongall three samples Fruit extract showed the least significantantioxidant activity (119875 le 005) by giving the highest IC50value as 1083 plusmn 07mgmL According to the ABTS assayresults (Table 1) leaves had significantly higher (119875 le 005)antioxidant activity followed by the flower and fruit extract(Figure 1)The antioxidant data in FRAP assay also vary in thesame manner Leaves samples of T cucumerina showed thehighest antioxidant activity while the fruit samples showedthe least activity

According to statistical data the antioxidant activity ofT cucumerina was in accordance with their amount of totalphenolic and flavonoid contents (Table 2) Total phenolic andflavonoid contents showed strong positive correlation withthe ABTS and FRAP assay values and negative correlationwith IC50 values of DPPH assay

33 Potent 120572-Amylase Inhibitory Activity Results indicatethat the aerial parts of T cucumerina possess 120572-amylase

4 International Journal of Food Science

Table 1 Total phenolic content and total flavonoid content and antioxidant capacity

Plant part TPC TFC DPPH ABTS FRAP

(Dry weight) (mg GAEg) (mg CEg) IC50(mgmL) (120583mol TEg) (mM Fe2+g)

6th minuteFruits 464 plusmn 03c 077 plusmn 01c 1083 plusmn 07a 2405 plusmn 08c 040 plusmn 001b

Leaves 2739 plusmn 12a 605 plusmn 01a 308 plusmn 02b 23571 plusmn 85a 424 plusmn 008a

Flowers 1997 plusmn 16b 446 plusmn 01b 416 plusmn 01b 15919 plusmn 24b 408 plusmn 011a

Means followed by the same letter within each column are not significantly different at 119875 le 005 according to the least significant difference test

0

50

100

150

200

250

1 2 3 4 5 6

ABT

S ra

dica

l sca

veng

ing

capa

city

(120583m

ol T

Eg)

Time (min)

FruitsLeaves

Flowers

Figure 1 Changing of radical scavenging activity of ABTS assaywith time

a

b

b

a

a

aa

b

a

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Starch iodine Turbidity DNSAInhibitory method

FruitsLeaves

Flowers

Inhi

bitio

n pe

rcen

tage

() f

or p

lant

co

ncen

trat

ion

25m

gm

L

Figure 2 Potent 120572-amylase inhibitory activity values for differentassaysMeans followed by the same letter(s) (a and b)within a clusterare not significantly different at 119875 gt 005

inhibitory activity but not in significantly high level Accord-ing to the three amylase inhibitory assays none of the partsof T cucumerina gave an IC50 value within the concentrationof 25mgmL (Figure 2) Acarbose was used as the positivecontrol (Table 3)

34 Mineral Element Content Potassiumwas recorded as thehighest (119875 le 005) mineral element followed by calcium

Table 2 Correlation of antioxidant capacity and total phenolic andtotal flavonoid contents

Characteristics TPC TFC DPPH ABTS FRAPTPCTFC 0999DPPH minus0961 minus0971ABTS 0998 0995 0945FRAP 0919 0933 0991 0896

Table 3 Acarbose positive control for 120572-amylase inhibitory assays

Inhibitory method IC50(120583gmL)

Starch-iodine method 80Turbidity method 83DNSA method 78

and magnesium Iron and zinc were recorded as the leastAmong all three parts flower samples had the highestmineralelement content while the lowest was recorded in the fruitsamples except for calcium and potassium (119875 le 005) On thecontrary fruit samples were significantly high in potassium(119875 le 005) (Table 4)

35 Insoluble and Soluble Dietary Fiber Insoluble dietaryfiber (IDF) content of all three parts was higher than solubledietary fiber (SDF) When considering the total dietary fiber(TDF) content fruit samples had significantly higher fibercontent (3176 plusmn 37 g100 g) followed by flowers and leaves(2163 plusmn 171 g100 g and 995 plusmn 125 g100 g resp) (Table 5)The statistical variation was the same as in TDF for both SDFand IDF

4 Discussion

Snake gourd contains a rich variety of nutrients vitaminsand minerals that are essential for human health includ-ing significant levels of dietary fiber a small amount ofcalories and high levels of protein These medicinal plantsare reported to possess different pharmacological propertiesdue to the presence of phytochemicals such as alkaloidsflavonoids glycosides tannins and steroids It is well-knownthat antioxidative properties of plants help to protect the bodyfrom free radical damage in cell structures nucleic acidslipids proteins and other body components and therebyreduce the risk and progression of many acute and chronic

International Journal of Food Science 5

Table 4 Mineral content by microwave assisted digestion

Plant part Mineral elements (mg100 g dry weight basis)Fe Zn Ca Mg K

Fruits 481 plusmn 009c 121 plusmn 005bc 245231 plusmn 2510a 117950 plusmn 1727c 247277 plusmn 1694ab

Leaves 1172 plusmn 048ab 281 plusmn 035bc 145023 plusmn 3325bc 214612 plusmn 7488b 236789 plusmn 2245ab

Flowers 1387 plusmn 014ab 713 plusmn 005a 135188 plusmn 2447bc 253375 plusmn 2159a 137907 plusmn 1710c

Means followed by the same letter(s) within each column are not significantly different at 119875 le 005 according to the least significant difference test

Table 5 Insoluble and soluble dietary fiber

Plant part Insoluble dietary fiber Soluble dietary fiber Total dietary fiber(g100 g) (g100 g) (g100 g)

Leaves 917 plusmn 091c 078 plusmn 002c 995 plusmn 125c

Flowers 1749 plusmn 178b 414 plusmn 050b 2163 plusmn 171b

Fruits 1968 plusmn 150a 1207 plusmn 145a 3176 plusmn 370a

Means followed by the same letter(s) within each column are not significantly different at 119875 le 005 according to the least significant difference test

diseases like cancer cardiovascular diseases diabetes andother metabolic syndromes [21] The results of the presentstudy on screening the phenolic and flavonoid contents andalso the total antioxidant capacity confirmed that all threeparts ofT cucumerina possess antioxidative propertiesTheseresults are in agreement with those reported by Choudhary etal [22] in India where the leaves possessed the highest totalphenolic content while fruits possessed the lowest As in TPCvalues TFC values also differ in the same manner in aerialparts of T cucumerina According to Ademosun et al [23]the total flavonoid content of T cucumerina was significantly(119875 le 005) higher than that of a tomato variety of LycopersiconesculentumMill var esculentum

Antioxidants are substances that have the ability toneutralize free radicals In a normal healthy human body thescavenging of prooxidants such as reactive oxygen species(ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) is effectivelyregulated by various antioxidant defense systems With theexposure to adverse physicochemical environmental orpathological conditions the regularly maintained balance isshifted in favor of prooxidantsThis results in oxidative stresswhich is highly responsible for adverse health conditionsincluding autoimmune destruction in the human body [24]Hence assessing the antioxidant capacities in various foodsor herbs is important to elevate the antioxidant levels andtheir action in the body In the present study the antioxidantcapacity was measured using DPPH ABTS and FRAPassays and all three extracts were found to show potentialantioxidant activity In a study done by Choudhary et al [22]the DPPH radical scavenging activity was higher for the leafextract than the fruit extract In another study Singh andPrakash [25] reported the IC50 values for leaves and fruit as27829 plusmn 298 120583gmL and 26030 plusmn 223 120583gmL respectivelyThe antioxidant activities of T cucumerina well correlatedwith the amount of total phenolic and flavonoid contentsSeveral reports have shown a close relationship between totalphenolic content and antioxidant activities [22]

Natural plants or their products are related in retardingthe absorption of glucose by inhibiting starch hydrolyzing

enzymes such as pancreatic amylase and glucosidase Theinhibition of these enzymes delays carbohydrate digestionthereby reducing the glucose releasing rate and consequentlylowers the increase in postprandial plasma glucose Severalindigenous medicinal plants have a high potential in inhibit-ing 120572-amylase activity [26] Though the present findings didnot give significant enzyme inhibition activity for aerial partsof T cucumerina the findings of Ademosun et al [23] haveshown a higher inhibitory effect on 120572-amylase activity withan IC50 value of 215 plusmn 009mgmL

Dietary minerals and trace elements are chemical sub-stances required by living organisms in addition to car-bon hydrogen nitrogen and oxygen that are present innearly all organic moleculesThese elements perform variousfunctions including building of bones and cell structuresregulating the bodyrsquos pH carrying charge and drivingchemical reactions Minerals and trace elements are usuallyobtained through the diet Though food sources of animalorigin provide most essential minerals some plants arealso considered as rich sources of minerals Several otherresearchers have reported positive results formineral elementanalysis of T cucumerina According to Ilelaboye and Pikuda[27] T cucumerina seeds contain iron (187mgkg DM) zinc(375mgkg DM) calcium (1643mgkg DM) magnesium(1896mgkg DM) and potassium (8704mgkg DM)

Most of the foods with a low or medium glycemic indexare reported to contain considerable amounts of dietaryfiber [28 29] There are two different types of fiber solubleand insoluble Both are important for health digestion andpreventing diseases The increased satiety associated withhigh fiber foods may result in reduction of appetite due todecreased rate of digestion and absorption [30] Accordingto Braaten et al [31] among the two types of dietaryfiber the SDF fraction has shown more promising effect onlowering postprandial blood glucose values The study doneby Osuagwu and Edeoga [32] also indicated positive resultsfor total fiber content of T cucumerina leaves as 12 g100 gsimilar to that of the present study However Hettiaratchi etal [33] had reported that incorporating T cucumerina fresh

6 International Journal of Food Science

fruit into a salad meal did not increase the total fiber contentin comparison to the control meal incorporated with Lasiaspinosa rhizome

The results of this study suggest that T cucumerinais rich in phenolic compounds and has good antioxidantactivity The plant can also be considered as a good sourceof essential mineral elements and rich in both soluble andinsoluble dietary fiber Several studies have also proven thatTcucumerina possesses so many functional health benefits [1ndash11]Thus T cucumerina can be considered as a natural sourceof functional nutrients which may yield many beneficialeffects to the human body

5 Conclusion

From the present study it is concluded that the water extractof Trichosanthes cucumerina fruits leaves and flowers pos-sessed significant amounts of beneficial compounds Thehighest concentration of phenolic compounds flavonoidsand antioxidant capacity was found in the leaves and least inthe fruits The 120572-amylase inhibitory activity of the plant wasnot significant Furthermore the mineral element content ofthe leaves and flowers is considerably higher than that of thefruit while the fiber content is significantly high in the fruitcompared to the leaves and flowers

Competing Interests

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interestsregarding the publication of this paper

Acknowledgments

The research was funded by National Institute of Fundamen-tal Studies Kandy Sri Lanka

References

[1] M Arawwawala I Thabrew and L Arambewela ldquoAntidi-abetic activity of Trichosanthes cucumerina in normal andstreptozotocinndashinduced diabetic ratsrdquo International Journal ofBiological andChemical Sciences vol 3 no 2 pp 287ndash296 2009

[2] S Sandhya K R Vinod J C Sekhar R Aradhana and VS Nath ldquoAn updated review on Tricosanthes cucumerina LrdquoInternational Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Review andResearch vol 1 no 2 pp 56ndash60 2010

[3] A A Yusuf OM Folarin and F O Bamiro ldquoChemical compo-sition and functional properties of snake gourd (Trichosanthescucumerina) seed flourrdquoThe Nigerian Food Journal vol 25 no1 pp 36ndash45 2007

[4] O A Ojiako and C U Igwe ldquoThe nutritive anti-nutritive andhepatotoxic properties of Trichosanthes anguina (snake tomato)fruits from Nigeriardquo Pakistan Journal of Nutrition vol 7 no 1pp 85ndash89 2008

[5] H Kirana and B P Srinivasan ldquoTrichosanthes cucumerina Linnimproves glucose tolerance and tissue glycogen in non insulindependent diabetes mellitus induced ratsrdquo Indian Journal ofPharmacology vol 40 no 3 pp 103ndash106 2008

[6] L D A M Arawwawala M I Thabrew and L S RArambewela ldquoA review of the pharmacological properties ofTrichosanthes cucumerina Linn of Sri Lankan originrdquo UniqueJournal of Pharmaceutical and Biological Science vol 1 no 1pp 3ndash6 2013

[7] T O Ajiboye S A Akinpelu H F Muritala et al ldquoTri-chosanthes cucumerina fruit extenuates dyslipidemia proteinoxidation lipid peroxidation and DNA fragmentation in theliver of high-fat diet-fed ratsrdquo Journal of Food Biochemistry vol38 no 5 pp 480ndash490 2014

[8] M Arawwawala I Thabrew and L Arambewela ldquoIn vitroand in vivo evaluation of antioxidant activity of Trichosanthescucumerina aerial partsrdquo Acta Biologica Hungarica vol 62 no3 pp 235ndash243 2011

[9] M Arawwawala I Thabrew L Arambewela and S Handun-netti ldquoAnti-inflammatory activity of Trichosanthes cucumerinaLinn in ratsrdquo Journal of Ethnopharmacology vol 131 no 3 pp538ndash543 2010

[10] L D AMArawwawala ldquoAntibacterial activity ofTrichosanthescucumerina Linn extractsrdquo International Journal of Pharmaceu-tical amp Biological Archive vol 2 no 2 2011

[11] L D A M Arawwawala M I Thabrew and L S R Arambe-wela ldquoGastroprotective activity of Trichosanthes cucumerina inratsrdquo Journal of Ethnopharmacology vol 127 no 3 pp 750ndash7542010

[12] T Samatha R Shyamsundarachary P Srinivas and N RSwamy ldquoQuantification of total phenolic and total flavonoidcontents in extracts ofOroxylum indicum LKurzrdquoAsian Journalof Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research vol 5 no 4 pp 177ndash179 2012

[13] MOAgbo P FUzorUNAkazie-Nneji CU Eze-OdurukweU B Ogbatue and E C Mbaoji ldquoAntioxidant total phenolicand flavonoid content of selected Nigerian medicinal plantsrdquoDhaka University Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences vol 14 no1 pp 35ndash41 2015

[14] C B Sanjeevkumar R L Londonkar U M Kattegouda andN K A Tukappa ldquoScreening of in vitro antioxidant activity ofchloroform extracts of Bryonopsis laciniosa fruitsrdquo InternationalJournal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences vol 5 no3 pp 590ndash597 2016

[15] J Al-humaidi ldquoPhytochemical screening total phenolic andantioxidant activity of crude and fractionated extracts ofcynomorium coccineum growing in Saudi Arabiardquo EuropeanJournal of Medicinal Plants vol 11 no 4 pp 1ndash9 2016

[16] A Shukla R Tyagi S Vats and R K Shukla ldquoTotal phenoliccontent antioxidant activity and phytochemical screening ofhydroalcoholic extract of Casearia tomentosa leavesrdquo Journal ofChemical and Pharmaceutical Research vol 8 no 1 pp 136ndash1412016

[17] P Sudha S S Zinjarde S Y Bhargava andA R Kumar ldquoPotent120572-amylase inhibitory activity of Indian Ayurvedic medicinalplantsrdquo BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine vol 11article 5 2011

[18] T Liu L Song H Wang and D Huang ldquoA high-throughputassay for quantification of starch hydrolase inhibition basedon turbidity measurementrdquo Journal of Agricultural and FoodChemistry vol 59 no 18 pp 9756ndash9762 2011

[19] J S Negi V K Bisht A K Bhandari and R C SundriyalldquoDetermination of mineral contents of Digitalis purpurea Land Digitalis lanata Ehrhrdquo Journal of Soil Science and PlantNutrition vol 12 no 3 pp 463ndash469 2012

International Journal of Food Science 7

[20] D Shin ldquoAnalysis of dietary insoluble and soluble fiber contentsin school mealrdquoNutrition Research and Practice vol 6 no 1 pp28ndash34 2012

[21] F Alhakmani S A Khan and A Ahmad ldquoDeterminationof total phenol in-vitro antioxidant and anti-inflammatoryactivity of seeds and fruits of Zizyphus spina-christi grown inOmanrdquo Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine vol 4 ppS656ndashS660 2014

[22] S Choudhary B S Tanwer and R Vijayvergia ldquoTotal phe-nolics flavonoids and antioxidant activity of Tricosanthes cuc-umerena LinnrdquoDrug Invention Today vol 4 no 5 pp 368ndash3702012

[23] O Ademosun G Oboh T M Adewuni A J Akinyemi and TA Olasehinde ldquoAntioxidative properties and inhibition of keyenzymes linked to type-2 diabetes by snake tomato (Tricosan-thes cucumerina) and two tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum)varietiesrdquo African Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology vol7 no 33 pp 2358ndash2365 2013

[24] T P A Devasagayam J C Tilak K K Boloor K S Sane SS Ghaskadbi and R D Lele ldquoFree radicals and antioxidants inhuman health current status and future prospectsrdquo Journal ofAssociation of Physicians of India vol 52 pp 794ndash804 2004

[25] S K Singh and V Prakash ldquoScreening of antioxidant activityand phytochemicals strength of some herbal plantsrdquo Interna-tional Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences vol 5no 3 pp 296ndash300 2013

[26] I G Tamil B Dineshkumar M Nandhakumar M Senthilku-mar and A Mitra ldquoIn vitro study on 120572-amylase inhibitoryactivity of an Indian medicinal plant Phyllanthus amarusrdquoIndian Journal of Pharmacology vol 42 no 5 pp 280ndash282 2010

[27] NOA Ilelaboye andOO Pikuda ldquoDetermination ofmineralsand anti-nutritional factors of some lesser-known crop seedsrdquoPakistan Journal of Nutrition vol 8 no 10 pp 1652ndash1656 2009

[28] M O Weickert and A F H Pfeiffer ldquoMetabolic effects ofdietary fiber consumption and prevention of diabetesrdquo Journalof Nutrition vol 138 no 3 pp 439ndash442 2008

[29] J R Perry and W Ying ldquoA review of physiological effects ofsoluble and insoluble dietary fibersrdquo Journal of NutritionampFoodSciences vol 6 article 476 2016

[30] L Chambers K McCrickerd and M R Yeomans ldquoOptimisingfoods for satietyrdquo Trends in Food Science and Technology vol 41no 2 pp 149ndash160 2015

[31] J T Braaten P J Wood F W Scott K D Riedel L M PosteandMW Collins ldquoOat gum lowers glucose and insulin after anoral glucose loadrdquo The American Journal of Clinical Nutritionvol 53 no 6 pp 1425ndash1430 1991

[32] A N Osuagwu and H O Edeoga ldquoNutritional properties ofthe leaf seed and pericarp of the fruit of four Cucurbitaceaespecies from South-East Nigeriardquo IOSR Journal of Agricultureand Veterinary Science vol 7 no 9 pp 41ndash44 2014

[33] U P K Hettiaratchi S Ekanayake and J Welihinda ldquoSriLankan rice mixed meals effect on glycaemic index and con-tribution to daily dietary fibre requirementrdquoMalaysian Journalof Nutrition vol 17 no 1 pp 97ndash104 2011

Submit your manuscripts athttpwwwhindawicom

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Anatomy Research International

PeptidesInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom

International Journal of

Volume 2014

Zoology

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Molecular Biology International

GenomicsInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

The Scientific World JournalHindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

BioinformaticsAdvances in

Marine BiologyJournal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Signal TransductionJournal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

BioMed Research International

Evolutionary BiologyInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Biochemistry Research International

ArchaeaHindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Genetics Research International

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Advances in

Virolog y

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom

Nucleic AcidsJournal of

Volume 2014

Stem CellsInternational

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Enzyme Research

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

International Journal of

Microbiology

4 International Journal of Food Science

Table 1 Total phenolic content and total flavonoid content and antioxidant capacity

Plant part TPC TFC DPPH ABTS FRAP

(Dry weight) (mg GAEg) (mg CEg) IC50(mgmL) (120583mol TEg) (mM Fe2+g)

6th minuteFruits 464 plusmn 03c 077 plusmn 01c 1083 plusmn 07a 2405 plusmn 08c 040 plusmn 001b

Leaves 2739 plusmn 12a 605 plusmn 01a 308 plusmn 02b 23571 plusmn 85a 424 plusmn 008a

Flowers 1997 plusmn 16b 446 plusmn 01b 416 plusmn 01b 15919 plusmn 24b 408 plusmn 011a

Means followed by the same letter within each column are not significantly different at 119875 le 005 according to the least significant difference test

0

50

100

150

200

250

1 2 3 4 5 6

ABT

S ra

dica

l sca

veng

ing

capa

city

(120583m

ol T

Eg)

Time (min)

FruitsLeaves

Flowers

Figure 1 Changing of radical scavenging activity of ABTS assaywith time

a

b

b

a

a

aa

b

a

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Starch iodine Turbidity DNSAInhibitory method

FruitsLeaves

Flowers

Inhi

bitio

n pe

rcen

tage

() f

or p

lant

co

ncen

trat

ion

25m

gm

L

Figure 2 Potent 120572-amylase inhibitory activity values for differentassaysMeans followed by the same letter(s) (a and b)within a clusterare not significantly different at 119875 gt 005

inhibitory activity but not in significantly high level Accord-ing to the three amylase inhibitory assays none of the partsof T cucumerina gave an IC50 value within the concentrationof 25mgmL (Figure 2) Acarbose was used as the positivecontrol (Table 3)

34 Mineral Element Content Potassiumwas recorded as thehighest (119875 le 005) mineral element followed by calcium

Table 2 Correlation of antioxidant capacity and total phenolic andtotal flavonoid contents

Characteristics TPC TFC DPPH ABTS FRAPTPCTFC 0999DPPH minus0961 minus0971ABTS 0998 0995 0945FRAP 0919 0933 0991 0896

Table 3 Acarbose positive control for 120572-amylase inhibitory assays

Inhibitory method IC50(120583gmL)

Starch-iodine method 80Turbidity method 83DNSA method 78

and magnesium Iron and zinc were recorded as the leastAmong all three parts flower samples had the highestmineralelement content while the lowest was recorded in the fruitsamples except for calcium and potassium (119875 le 005) On thecontrary fruit samples were significantly high in potassium(119875 le 005) (Table 4)

35 Insoluble and Soluble Dietary Fiber Insoluble dietaryfiber (IDF) content of all three parts was higher than solubledietary fiber (SDF) When considering the total dietary fiber(TDF) content fruit samples had significantly higher fibercontent (3176 plusmn 37 g100 g) followed by flowers and leaves(2163 plusmn 171 g100 g and 995 plusmn 125 g100 g resp) (Table 5)The statistical variation was the same as in TDF for both SDFand IDF

4 Discussion

Snake gourd contains a rich variety of nutrients vitaminsand minerals that are essential for human health includ-ing significant levels of dietary fiber a small amount ofcalories and high levels of protein These medicinal plantsare reported to possess different pharmacological propertiesdue to the presence of phytochemicals such as alkaloidsflavonoids glycosides tannins and steroids It is well-knownthat antioxidative properties of plants help to protect the bodyfrom free radical damage in cell structures nucleic acidslipids proteins and other body components and therebyreduce the risk and progression of many acute and chronic

International Journal of Food Science 5

Table 4 Mineral content by microwave assisted digestion

Plant part Mineral elements (mg100 g dry weight basis)Fe Zn Ca Mg K

Fruits 481 plusmn 009c 121 plusmn 005bc 245231 plusmn 2510a 117950 plusmn 1727c 247277 plusmn 1694ab

Leaves 1172 plusmn 048ab 281 plusmn 035bc 145023 plusmn 3325bc 214612 plusmn 7488b 236789 plusmn 2245ab

Flowers 1387 plusmn 014ab 713 plusmn 005a 135188 plusmn 2447bc 253375 plusmn 2159a 137907 plusmn 1710c

Means followed by the same letter(s) within each column are not significantly different at 119875 le 005 according to the least significant difference test

Table 5 Insoluble and soluble dietary fiber

Plant part Insoluble dietary fiber Soluble dietary fiber Total dietary fiber(g100 g) (g100 g) (g100 g)

Leaves 917 plusmn 091c 078 plusmn 002c 995 plusmn 125c

Flowers 1749 plusmn 178b 414 plusmn 050b 2163 plusmn 171b

Fruits 1968 plusmn 150a 1207 plusmn 145a 3176 plusmn 370a

Means followed by the same letter(s) within each column are not significantly different at 119875 le 005 according to the least significant difference test

diseases like cancer cardiovascular diseases diabetes andother metabolic syndromes [21] The results of the presentstudy on screening the phenolic and flavonoid contents andalso the total antioxidant capacity confirmed that all threeparts ofT cucumerina possess antioxidative propertiesTheseresults are in agreement with those reported by Choudhary etal [22] in India where the leaves possessed the highest totalphenolic content while fruits possessed the lowest As in TPCvalues TFC values also differ in the same manner in aerialparts of T cucumerina According to Ademosun et al [23]the total flavonoid content of T cucumerina was significantly(119875 le 005) higher than that of a tomato variety of LycopersiconesculentumMill var esculentum

Antioxidants are substances that have the ability toneutralize free radicals In a normal healthy human body thescavenging of prooxidants such as reactive oxygen species(ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) is effectivelyregulated by various antioxidant defense systems With theexposure to adverse physicochemical environmental orpathological conditions the regularly maintained balance isshifted in favor of prooxidantsThis results in oxidative stresswhich is highly responsible for adverse health conditionsincluding autoimmune destruction in the human body [24]Hence assessing the antioxidant capacities in various foodsor herbs is important to elevate the antioxidant levels andtheir action in the body In the present study the antioxidantcapacity was measured using DPPH ABTS and FRAPassays and all three extracts were found to show potentialantioxidant activity In a study done by Choudhary et al [22]the DPPH radical scavenging activity was higher for the leafextract than the fruit extract In another study Singh andPrakash [25] reported the IC50 values for leaves and fruit as27829 plusmn 298 120583gmL and 26030 plusmn 223 120583gmL respectivelyThe antioxidant activities of T cucumerina well correlatedwith the amount of total phenolic and flavonoid contentsSeveral reports have shown a close relationship between totalphenolic content and antioxidant activities [22]

Natural plants or their products are related in retardingthe absorption of glucose by inhibiting starch hydrolyzing

enzymes such as pancreatic amylase and glucosidase Theinhibition of these enzymes delays carbohydrate digestionthereby reducing the glucose releasing rate and consequentlylowers the increase in postprandial plasma glucose Severalindigenous medicinal plants have a high potential in inhibit-ing 120572-amylase activity [26] Though the present findings didnot give significant enzyme inhibition activity for aerial partsof T cucumerina the findings of Ademosun et al [23] haveshown a higher inhibitory effect on 120572-amylase activity withan IC50 value of 215 plusmn 009mgmL

Dietary minerals and trace elements are chemical sub-stances required by living organisms in addition to car-bon hydrogen nitrogen and oxygen that are present innearly all organic moleculesThese elements perform variousfunctions including building of bones and cell structuresregulating the bodyrsquos pH carrying charge and drivingchemical reactions Minerals and trace elements are usuallyobtained through the diet Though food sources of animalorigin provide most essential minerals some plants arealso considered as rich sources of minerals Several otherresearchers have reported positive results formineral elementanalysis of T cucumerina According to Ilelaboye and Pikuda[27] T cucumerina seeds contain iron (187mgkg DM) zinc(375mgkg DM) calcium (1643mgkg DM) magnesium(1896mgkg DM) and potassium (8704mgkg DM)

Most of the foods with a low or medium glycemic indexare reported to contain considerable amounts of dietaryfiber [28 29] There are two different types of fiber solubleand insoluble Both are important for health digestion andpreventing diseases The increased satiety associated withhigh fiber foods may result in reduction of appetite due todecreased rate of digestion and absorption [30] Accordingto Braaten et al [31] among the two types of dietaryfiber the SDF fraction has shown more promising effect onlowering postprandial blood glucose values The study doneby Osuagwu and Edeoga [32] also indicated positive resultsfor total fiber content of T cucumerina leaves as 12 g100 gsimilar to that of the present study However Hettiaratchi etal [33] had reported that incorporating T cucumerina fresh

6 International Journal of Food Science

fruit into a salad meal did not increase the total fiber contentin comparison to the control meal incorporated with Lasiaspinosa rhizome

The results of this study suggest that T cucumerinais rich in phenolic compounds and has good antioxidantactivity The plant can also be considered as a good sourceof essential mineral elements and rich in both soluble andinsoluble dietary fiber Several studies have also proven thatTcucumerina possesses so many functional health benefits [1ndash11]Thus T cucumerina can be considered as a natural sourceof functional nutrients which may yield many beneficialeffects to the human body

5 Conclusion

From the present study it is concluded that the water extractof Trichosanthes cucumerina fruits leaves and flowers pos-sessed significant amounts of beneficial compounds Thehighest concentration of phenolic compounds flavonoidsand antioxidant capacity was found in the leaves and least inthe fruits The 120572-amylase inhibitory activity of the plant wasnot significant Furthermore the mineral element content ofthe leaves and flowers is considerably higher than that of thefruit while the fiber content is significantly high in the fruitcompared to the leaves and flowers

Competing Interests

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interestsregarding the publication of this paper

Acknowledgments

The research was funded by National Institute of Fundamen-tal Studies Kandy Sri Lanka

References

[1] M Arawwawala I Thabrew and L Arambewela ldquoAntidi-abetic activity of Trichosanthes cucumerina in normal andstreptozotocinndashinduced diabetic ratsrdquo International Journal ofBiological andChemical Sciences vol 3 no 2 pp 287ndash296 2009

[2] S Sandhya K R Vinod J C Sekhar R Aradhana and VS Nath ldquoAn updated review on Tricosanthes cucumerina LrdquoInternational Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Review andResearch vol 1 no 2 pp 56ndash60 2010

[3] A A Yusuf OM Folarin and F O Bamiro ldquoChemical compo-sition and functional properties of snake gourd (Trichosanthescucumerina) seed flourrdquoThe Nigerian Food Journal vol 25 no1 pp 36ndash45 2007

[4] O A Ojiako and C U Igwe ldquoThe nutritive anti-nutritive andhepatotoxic properties of Trichosanthes anguina (snake tomato)fruits from Nigeriardquo Pakistan Journal of Nutrition vol 7 no 1pp 85ndash89 2008

[5] H Kirana and B P Srinivasan ldquoTrichosanthes cucumerina Linnimproves glucose tolerance and tissue glycogen in non insulindependent diabetes mellitus induced ratsrdquo Indian Journal ofPharmacology vol 40 no 3 pp 103ndash106 2008

[6] L D A M Arawwawala M I Thabrew and L S RArambewela ldquoA review of the pharmacological properties ofTrichosanthes cucumerina Linn of Sri Lankan originrdquo UniqueJournal of Pharmaceutical and Biological Science vol 1 no 1pp 3ndash6 2013

[7] T O Ajiboye S A Akinpelu H F Muritala et al ldquoTri-chosanthes cucumerina fruit extenuates dyslipidemia proteinoxidation lipid peroxidation and DNA fragmentation in theliver of high-fat diet-fed ratsrdquo Journal of Food Biochemistry vol38 no 5 pp 480ndash490 2014

[8] M Arawwawala I Thabrew and L Arambewela ldquoIn vitroand in vivo evaluation of antioxidant activity of Trichosanthescucumerina aerial partsrdquo Acta Biologica Hungarica vol 62 no3 pp 235ndash243 2011

[9] M Arawwawala I Thabrew L Arambewela and S Handun-netti ldquoAnti-inflammatory activity of Trichosanthes cucumerinaLinn in ratsrdquo Journal of Ethnopharmacology vol 131 no 3 pp538ndash543 2010

[10] L D AMArawwawala ldquoAntibacterial activity ofTrichosanthescucumerina Linn extractsrdquo International Journal of Pharmaceu-tical amp Biological Archive vol 2 no 2 2011

[11] L D A M Arawwawala M I Thabrew and L S R Arambe-wela ldquoGastroprotective activity of Trichosanthes cucumerina inratsrdquo Journal of Ethnopharmacology vol 127 no 3 pp 750ndash7542010

[12] T Samatha R Shyamsundarachary P Srinivas and N RSwamy ldquoQuantification of total phenolic and total flavonoidcontents in extracts ofOroxylum indicum LKurzrdquoAsian Journalof Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research vol 5 no 4 pp 177ndash179 2012

[13] MOAgbo P FUzorUNAkazie-Nneji CU Eze-OdurukweU B Ogbatue and E C Mbaoji ldquoAntioxidant total phenolicand flavonoid content of selected Nigerian medicinal plantsrdquoDhaka University Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences vol 14 no1 pp 35ndash41 2015

[14] C B Sanjeevkumar R L Londonkar U M Kattegouda andN K A Tukappa ldquoScreening of in vitro antioxidant activity ofchloroform extracts of Bryonopsis laciniosa fruitsrdquo InternationalJournal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences vol 5 no3 pp 590ndash597 2016

[15] J Al-humaidi ldquoPhytochemical screening total phenolic andantioxidant activity of crude and fractionated extracts ofcynomorium coccineum growing in Saudi Arabiardquo EuropeanJournal of Medicinal Plants vol 11 no 4 pp 1ndash9 2016

[16] A Shukla R Tyagi S Vats and R K Shukla ldquoTotal phenoliccontent antioxidant activity and phytochemical screening ofhydroalcoholic extract of Casearia tomentosa leavesrdquo Journal ofChemical and Pharmaceutical Research vol 8 no 1 pp 136ndash1412016

[17] P Sudha S S Zinjarde S Y Bhargava andA R Kumar ldquoPotent120572-amylase inhibitory activity of Indian Ayurvedic medicinalplantsrdquo BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine vol 11article 5 2011

[18] T Liu L Song H Wang and D Huang ldquoA high-throughputassay for quantification of starch hydrolase inhibition basedon turbidity measurementrdquo Journal of Agricultural and FoodChemistry vol 59 no 18 pp 9756ndash9762 2011

[19] J S Negi V K Bisht A K Bhandari and R C SundriyalldquoDetermination of mineral contents of Digitalis purpurea Land Digitalis lanata Ehrhrdquo Journal of Soil Science and PlantNutrition vol 12 no 3 pp 463ndash469 2012

International Journal of Food Science 7

[20] D Shin ldquoAnalysis of dietary insoluble and soluble fiber contentsin school mealrdquoNutrition Research and Practice vol 6 no 1 pp28ndash34 2012

[21] F Alhakmani S A Khan and A Ahmad ldquoDeterminationof total phenol in-vitro antioxidant and anti-inflammatoryactivity of seeds and fruits of Zizyphus spina-christi grown inOmanrdquo Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine vol 4 ppS656ndashS660 2014

[22] S Choudhary B S Tanwer and R Vijayvergia ldquoTotal phe-nolics flavonoids and antioxidant activity of Tricosanthes cuc-umerena LinnrdquoDrug Invention Today vol 4 no 5 pp 368ndash3702012

[23] O Ademosun G Oboh T M Adewuni A J Akinyemi and TA Olasehinde ldquoAntioxidative properties and inhibition of keyenzymes linked to type-2 diabetes by snake tomato (Tricosan-thes cucumerina) and two tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum)varietiesrdquo African Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology vol7 no 33 pp 2358ndash2365 2013

[24] T P A Devasagayam J C Tilak K K Boloor K S Sane SS Ghaskadbi and R D Lele ldquoFree radicals and antioxidants inhuman health current status and future prospectsrdquo Journal ofAssociation of Physicians of India vol 52 pp 794ndash804 2004

[25] S K Singh and V Prakash ldquoScreening of antioxidant activityand phytochemicals strength of some herbal plantsrdquo Interna-tional Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences vol 5no 3 pp 296ndash300 2013

[26] I G Tamil B Dineshkumar M Nandhakumar M Senthilku-mar and A Mitra ldquoIn vitro study on 120572-amylase inhibitoryactivity of an Indian medicinal plant Phyllanthus amarusrdquoIndian Journal of Pharmacology vol 42 no 5 pp 280ndash282 2010

[27] NOA Ilelaboye andOO Pikuda ldquoDetermination ofmineralsand anti-nutritional factors of some lesser-known crop seedsrdquoPakistan Journal of Nutrition vol 8 no 10 pp 1652ndash1656 2009

[28] M O Weickert and A F H Pfeiffer ldquoMetabolic effects ofdietary fiber consumption and prevention of diabetesrdquo Journalof Nutrition vol 138 no 3 pp 439ndash442 2008

[29] J R Perry and W Ying ldquoA review of physiological effects ofsoluble and insoluble dietary fibersrdquo Journal of NutritionampFoodSciences vol 6 article 476 2016

[30] L Chambers K McCrickerd and M R Yeomans ldquoOptimisingfoods for satietyrdquo Trends in Food Science and Technology vol 41no 2 pp 149ndash160 2015

[31] J T Braaten P J Wood F W Scott K D Riedel L M PosteandMW Collins ldquoOat gum lowers glucose and insulin after anoral glucose loadrdquo The American Journal of Clinical Nutritionvol 53 no 6 pp 1425ndash1430 1991

[32] A N Osuagwu and H O Edeoga ldquoNutritional properties ofthe leaf seed and pericarp of the fruit of four Cucurbitaceaespecies from South-East Nigeriardquo IOSR Journal of Agricultureand Veterinary Science vol 7 no 9 pp 41ndash44 2014

[33] U P K Hettiaratchi S Ekanayake and J Welihinda ldquoSriLankan rice mixed meals effect on glycaemic index and con-tribution to daily dietary fibre requirementrdquoMalaysian Journalof Nutrition vol 17 no 1 pp 97ndash104 2011

Submit your manuscripts athttpwwwhindawicom

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Anatomy Research International

PeptidesInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom

International Journal of

Volume 2014

Zoology

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Molecular Biology International

GenomicsInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

The Scientific World JournalHindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

BioinformaticsAdvances in

Marine BiologyJournal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Signal TransductionJournal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

BioMed Research International

Evolutionary BiologyInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Biochemistry Research International

ArchaeaHindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Genetics Research International

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Advances in

Virolog y

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom

Nucleic AcidsJournal of

Volume 2014

Stem CellsInternational

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Enzyme Research

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

International Journal of

Microbiology

International Journal of Food Science 5

Table 4 Mineral content by microwave assisted digestion

Plant part Mineral elements (mg100 g dry weight basis)Fe Zn Ca Mg K

Fruits 481 plusmn 009c 121 plusmn 005bc 245231 plusmn 2510a 117950 plusmn 1727c 247277 plusmn 1694ab

Leaves 1172 plusmn 048ab 281 plusmn 035bc 145023 plusmn 3325bc 214612 plusmn 7488b 236789 plusmn 2245ab

Flowers 1387 plusmn 014ab 713 plusmn 005a 135188 plusmn 2447bc 253375 plusmn 2159a 137907 plusmn 1710c

Means followed by the same letter(s) within each column are not significantly different at 119875 le 005 according to the least significant difference test

Table 5 Insoluble and soluble dietary fiber

Plant part Insoluble dietary fiber Soluble dietary fiber Total dietary fiber(g100 g) (g100 g) (g100 g)

Leaves 917 plusmn 091c 078 plusmn 002c 995 plusmn 125c

Flowers 1749 plusmn 178b 414 plusmn 050b 2163 plusmn 171b

Fruits 1968 plusmn 150a 1207 plusmn 145a 3176 plusmn 370a

Means followed by the same letter(s) within each column are not significantly different at 119875 le 005 according to the least significant difference test

diseases like cancer cardiovascular diseases diabetes andother metabolic syndromes [21] The results of the presentstudy on screening the phenolic and flavonoid contents andalso the total antioxidant capacity confirmed that all threeparts ofT cucumerina possess antioxidative propertiesTheseresults are in agreement with those reported by Choudhary etal [22] in India where the leaves possessed the highest totalphenolic content while fruits possessed the lowest As in TPCvalues TFC values also differ in the same manner in aerialparts of T cucumerina According to Ademosun et al [23]the total flavonoid content of T cucumerina was significantly(119875 le 005) higher than that of a tomato variety of LycopersiconesculentumMill var esculentum

Antioxidants are substances that have the ability toneutralize free radicals In a normal healthy human body thescavenging of prooxidants such as reactive oxygen species(ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) is effectivelyregulated by various antioxidant defense systems With theexposure to adverse physicochemical environmental orpathological conditions the regularly maintained balance isshifted in favor of prooxidantsThis results in oxidative stresswhich is highly responsible for adverse health conditionsincluding autoimmune destruction in the human body [24]Hence assessing the antioxidant capacities in various foodsor herbs is important to elevate the antioxidant levels andtheir action in the body In the present study the antioxidantcapacity was measured using DPPH ABTS and FRAPassays and all three extracts were found to show potentialantioxidant activity In a study done by Choudhary et al [22]the DPPH radical scavenging activity was higher for the leafextract than the fruit extract In another study Singh andPrakash [25] reported the IC50 values for leaves and fruit as27829 plusmn 298 120583gmL and 26030 plusmn 223 120583gmL respectivelyThe antioxidant activities of T cucumerina well correlatedwith the amount of total phenolic and flavonoid contentsSeveral reports have shown a close relationship between totalphenolic content and antioxidant activities [22]

Natural plants or their products are related in retardingthe absorption of glucose by inhibiting starch hydrolyzing

enzymes such as pancreatic amylase and glucosidase Theinhibition of these enzymes delays carbohydrate digestionthereby reducing the glucose releasing rate and consequentlylowers the increase in postprandial plasma glucose Severalindigenous medicinal plants have a high potential in inhibit-ing 120572-amylase activity [26] Though the present findings didnot give significant enzyme inhibition activity for aerial partsof T cucumerina the findings of Ademosun et al [23] haveshown a higher inhibitory effect on 120572-amylase activity withan IC50 value of 215 plusmn 009mgmL

Dietary minerals and trace elements are chemical sub-stances required by living organisms in addition to car-bon hydrogen nitrogen and oxygen that are present innearly all organic moleculesThese elements perform variousfunctions including building of bones and cell structuresregulating the bodyrsquos pH carrying charge and drivingchemical reactions Minerals and trace elements are usuallyobtained through the diet Though food sources of animalorigin provide most essential minerals some plants arealso considered as rich sources of minerals Several otherresearchers have reported positive results formineral elementanalysis of T cucumerina According to Ilelaboye and Pikuda[27] T cucumerina seeds contain iron (187mgkg DM) zinc(375mgkg DM) calcium (1643mgkg DM) magnesium(1896mgkg DM) and potassium (8704mgkg DM)

Most of the foods with a low or medium glycemic indexare reported to contain considerable amounts of dietaryfiber [28 29] There are two different types of fiber solubleand insoluble Both are important for health digestion andpreventing diseases The increased satiety associated withhigh fiber foods may result in reduction of appetite due todecreased rate of digestion and absorption [30] Accordingto Braaten et al [31] among the two types of dietaryfiber the SDF fraction has shown more promising effect onlowering postprandial blood glucose values The study doneby Osuagwu and Edeoga [32] also indicated positive resultsfor total fiber content of T cucumerina leaves as 12 g100 gsimilar to that of the present study However Hettiaratchi etal [33] had reported that incorporating T cucumerina fresh

6 International Journal of Food Science

fruit into a salad meal did not increase the total fiber contentin comparison to the control meal incorporated with Lasiaspinosa rhizome

The results of this study suggest that T cucumerinais rich in phenolic compounds and has good antioxidantactivity The plant can also be considered as a good sourceof essential mineral elements and rich in both soluble andinsoluble dietary fiber Several studies have also proven thatTcucumerina possesses so many functional health benefits [1ndash11]Thus T cucumerina can be considered as a natural sourceof functional nutrients which may yield many beneficialeffects to the human body

5 Conclusion

From the present study it is concluded that the water extractof Trichosanthes cucumerina fruits leaves and flowers pos-sessed significant amounts of beneficial compounds Thehighest concentration of phenolic compounds flavonoidsand antioxidant capacity was found in the leaves and least inthe fruits The 120572-amylase inhibitory activity of the plant wasnot significant Furthermore the mineral element content ofthe leaves and flowers is considerably higher than that of thefruit while the fiber content is significantly high in the fruitcompared to the leaves and flowers

Competing Interests

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interestsregarding the publication of this paper

Acknowledgments

The research was funded by National Institute of Fundamen-tal Studies Kandy Sri Lanka

References

[1] M Arawwawala I Thabrew and L Arambewela ldquoAntidi-abetic activity of Trichosanthes cucumerina in normal andstreptozotocinndashinduced diabetic ratsrdquo International Journal ofBiological andChemical Sciences vol 3 no 2 pp 287ndash296 2009

[2] S Sandhya K R Vinod J C Sekhar R Aradhana and VS Nath ldquoAn updated review on Tricosanthes cucumerina LrdquoInternational Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Review andResearch vol 1 no 2 pp 56ndash60 2010

[3] A A Yusuf OM Folarin and F O Bamiro ldquoChemical compo-sition and functional properties of snake gourd (Trichosanthescucumerina) seed flourrdquoThe Nigerian Food Journal vol 25 no1 pp 36ndash45 2007

[4] O A Ojiako and C U Igwe ldquoThe nutritive anti-nutritive andhepatotoxic properties of Trichosanthes anguina (snake tomato)fruits from Nigeriardquo Pakistan Journal of Nutrition vol 7 no 1pp 85ndash89 2008

[5] H Kirana and B P Srinivasan ldquoTrichosanthes cucumerina Linnimproves glucose tolerance and tissue glycogen in non insulindependent diabetes mellitus induced ratsrdquo Indian Journal ofPharmacology vol 40 no 3 pp 103ndash106 2008

[6] L D A M Arawwawala M I Thabrew and L S RArambewela ldquoA review of the pharmacological properties ofTrichosanthes cucumerina Linn of Sri Lankan originrdquo UniqueJournal of Pharmaceutical and Biological Science vol 1 no 1pp 3ndash6 2013

[7] T O Ajiboye S A Akinpelu H F Muritala et al ldquoTri-chosanthes cucumerina fruit extenuates dyslipidemia proteinoxidation lipid peroxidation and DNA fragmentation in theliver of high-fat diet-fed ratsrdquo Journal of Food Biochemistry vol38 no 5 pp 480ndash490 2014

[8] M Arawwawala I Thabrew and L Arambewela ldquoIn vitroand in vivo evaluation of antioxidant activity of Trichosanthescucumerina aerial partsrdquo Acta Biologica Hungarica vol 62 no3 pp 235ndash243 2011

[9] M Arawwawala I Thabrew L Arambewela and S Handun-netti ldquoAnti-inflammatory activity of Trichosanthes cucumerinaLinn in ratsrdquo Journal of Ethnopharmacology vol 131 no 3 pp538ndash543 2010

[10] L D AMArawwawala ldquoAntibacterial activity ofTrichosanthescucumerina Linn extractsrdquo International Journal of Pharmaceu-tical amp Biological Archive vol 2 no 2 2011

[11] L D A M Arawwawala M I Thabrew and L S R Arambe-wela ldquoGastroprotective activity of Trichosanthes cucumerina inratsrdquo Journal of Ethnopharmacology vol 127 no 3 pp 750ndash7542010

[12] T Samatha R Shyamsundarachary P Srinivas and N RSwamy ldquoQuantification of total phenolic and total flavonoidcontents in extracts ofOroxylum indicum LKurzrdquoAsian Journalof Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research vol 5 no 4 pp 177ndash179 2012

[13] MOAgbo P FUzorUNAkazie-Nneji CU Eze-OdurukweU B Ogbatue and E C Mbaoji ldquoAntioxidant total phenolicand flavonoid content of selected Nigerian medicinal plantsrdquoDhaka University Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences vol 14 no1 pp 35ndash41 2015

[14] C B Sanjeevkumar R L Londonkar U M Kattegouda andN K A Tukappa ldquoScreening of in vitro antioxidant activity ofchloroform extracts of Bryonopsis laciniosa fruitsrdquo InternationalJournal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences vol 5 no3 pp 590ndash597 2016

[15] J Al-humaidi ldquoPhytochemical screening total phenolic andantioxidant activity of crude and fractionated extracts ofcynomorium coccineum growing in Saudi Arabiardquo EuropeanJournal of Medicinal Plants vol 11 no 4 pp 1ndash9 2016

[16] A Shukla R Tyagi S Vats and R K Shukla ldquoTotal phenoliccontent antioxidant activity and phytochemical screening ofhydroalcoholic extract of Casearia tomentosa leavesrdquo Journal ofChemical and Pharmaceutical Research vol 8 no 1 pp 136ndash1412016

[17] P Sudha S S Zinjarde S Y Bhargava andA R Kumar ldquoPotent120572-amylase inhibitory activity of Indian Ayurvedic medicinalplantsrdquo BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine vol 11article 5 2011

[18] T Liu L Song H Wang and D Huang ldquoA high-throughputassay for quantification of starch hydrolase inhibition basedon turbidity measurementrdquo Journal of Agricultural and FoodChemistry vol 59 no 18 pp 9756ndash9762 2011

[19] J S Negi V K Bisht A K Bhandari and R C SundriyalldquoDetermination of mineral contents of Digitalis purpurea Land Digitalis lanata Ehrhrdquo Journal of Soil Science and PlantNutrition vol 12 no 3 pp 463ndash469 2012

International Journal of Food Science 7

[20] D Shin ldquoAnalysis of dietary insoluble and soluble fiber contentsin school mealrdquoNutrition Research and Practice vol 6 no 1 pp28ndash34 2012

[21] F Alhakmani S A Khan and A Ahmad ldquoDeterminationof total phenol in-vitro antioxidant and anti-inflammatoryactivity of seeds and fruits of Zizyphus spina-christi grown inOmanrdquo Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine vol 4 ppS656ndashS660 2014

[22] S Choudhary B S Tanwer and R Vijayvergia ldquoTotal phe-nolics flavonoids and antioxidant activity of Tricosanthes cuc-umerena LinnrdquoDrug Invention Today vol 4 no 5 pp 368ndash3702012

[23] O Ademosun G Oboh T M Adewuni A J Akinyemi and TA Olasehinde ldquoAntioxidative properties and inhibition of keyenzymes linked to type-2 diabetes by snake tomato (Tricosan-thes cucumerina) and two tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum)varietiesrdquo African Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology vol7 no 33 pp 2358ndash2365 2013

[24] T P A Devasagayam J C Tilak K K Boloor K S Sane SS Ghaskadbi and R D Lele ldquoFree radicals and antioxidants inhuman health current status and future prospectsrdquo Journal ofAssociation of Physicians of India vol 52 pp 794ndash804 2004

[25] S K Singh and V Prakash ldquoScreening of antioxidant activityand phytochemicals strength of some herbal plantsrdquo Interna-tional Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences vol 5no 3 pp 296ndash300 2013

[26] I G Tamil B Dineshkumar M Nandhakumar M Senthilku-mar and A Mitra ldquoIn vitro study on 120572-amylase inhibitoryactivity of an Indian medicinal plant Phyllanthus amarusrdquoIndian Journal of Pharmacology vol 42 no 5 pp 280ndash282 2010

[27] NOA Ilelaboye andOO Pikuda ldquoDetermination ofmineralsand anti-nutritional factors of some lesser-known crop seedsrdquoPakistan Journal of Nutrition vol 8 no 10 pp 1652ndash1656 2009

[28] M O Weickert and A F H Pfeiffer ldquoMetabolic effects ofdietary fiber consumption and prevention of diabetesrdquo Journalof Nutrition vol 138 no 3 pp 439ndash442 2008

[29] J R Perry and W Ying ldquoA review of physiological effects ofsoluble and insoluble dietary fibersrdquo Journal of NutritionampFoodSciences vol 6 article 476 2016

[30] L Chambers K McCrickerd and M R Yeomans ldquoOptimisingfoods for satietyrdquo Trends in Food Science and Technology vol 41no 2 pp 149ndash160 2015

[31] J T Braaten P J Wood F W Scott K D Riedel L M PosteandMW Collins ldquoOat gum lowers glucose and insulin after anoral glucose loadrdquo The American Journal of Clinical Nutritionvol 53 no 6 pp 1425ndash1430 1991

[32] A N Osuagwu and H O Edeoga ldquoNutritional properties ofthe leaf seed and pericarp of the fruit of four Cucurbitaceaespecies from South-East Nigeriardquo IOSR Journal of Agricultureand Veterinary Science vol 7 no 9 pp 41ndash44 2014

[33] U P K Hettiaratchi S Ekanayake and J Welihinda ldquoSriLankan rice mixed meals effect on glycaemic index and con-tribution to daily dietary fibre requirementrdquoMalaysian Journalof Nutrition vol 17 no 1 pp 97ndash104 2011

Submit your manuscripts athttpwwwhindawicom

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Anatomy Research International

PeptidesInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom

International Journal of

Volume 2014

Zoology

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Molecular Biology International

GenomicsInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

The Scientific World JournalHindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

BioinformaticsAdvances in

Marine BiologyJournal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Signal TransductionJournal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

BioMed Research International

Evolutionary BiologyInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Biochemistry Research International

ArchaeaHindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Genetics Research International

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Advances in

Virolog y

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom

Nucleic AcidsJournal of

Volume 2014

Stem CellsInternational

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Enzyme Research

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

International Journal of

Microbiology

6 International Journal of Food Science

fruit into a salad meal did not increase the total fiber contentin comparison to the control meal incorporated with Lasiaspinosa rhizome

The results of this study suggest that T cucumerinais rich in phenolic compounds and has good antioxidantactivity The plant can also be considered as a good sourceof essential mineral elements and rich in both soluble andinsoluble dietary fiber Several studies have also proven thatTcucumerina possesses so many functional health benefits [1ndash11]Thus T cucumerina can be considered as a natural sourceof functional nutrients which may yield many beneficialeffects to the human body

5 Conclusion

From the present study it is concluded that the water extractof Trichosanthes cucumerina fruits leaves and flowers pos-sessed significant amounts of beneficial compounds Thehighest concentration of phenolic compounds flavonoidsand antioxidant capacity was found in the leaves and least inthe fruits The 120572-amylase inhibitory activity of the plant wasnot significant Furthermore the mineral element content ofthe leaves and flowers is considerably higher than that of thefruit while the fiber content is significantly high in the fruitcompared to the leaves and flowers

Competing Interests

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interestsregarding the publication of this paper

Acknowledgments

The research was funded by National Institute of Fundamen-tal Studies Kandy Sri Lanka

References

[1] M Arawwawala I Thabrew and L Arambewela ldquoAntidi-abetic activity of Trichosanthes cucumerina in normal andstreptozotocinndashinduced diabetic ratsrdquo International Journal ofBiological andChemical Sciences vol 3 no 2 pp 287ndash296 2009

[2] S Sandhya K R Vinod J C Sekhar R Aradhana and VS Nath ldquoAn updated review on Tricosanthes cucumerina LrdquoInternational Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Review andResearch vol 1 no 2 pp 56ndash60 2010

[3] A A Yusuf OM Folarin and F O Bamiro ldquoChemical compo-sition and functional properties of snake gourd (Trichosanthescucumerina) seed flourrdquoThe Nigerian Food Journal vol 25 no1 pp 36ndash45 2007

[4] O A Ojiako and C U Igwe ldquoThe nutritive anti-nutritive andhepatotoxic properties of Trichosanthes anguina (snake tomato)fruits from Nigeriardquo Pakistan Journal of Nutrition vol 7 no 1pp 85ndash89 2008

[5] H Kirana and B P Srinivasan ldquoTrichosanthes cucumerina Linnimproves glucose tolerance and tissue glycogen in non insulindependent diabetes mellitus induced ratsrdquo Indian Journal ofPharmacology vol 40 no 3 pp 103ndash106 2008

[6] L D A M Arawwawala M I Thabrew and L S RArambewela ldquoA review of the pharmacological properties ofTrichosanthes cucumerina Linn of Sri Lankan originrdquo UniqueJournal of Pharmaceutical and Biological Science vol 1 no 1pp 3ndash6 2013

[7] T O Ajiboye S A Akinpelu H F Muritala et al ldquoTri-chosanthes cucumerina fruit extenuates dyslipidemia proteinoxidation lipid peroxidation and DNA fragmentation in theliver of high-fat diet-fed ratsrdquo Journal of Food Biochemistry vol38 no 5 pp 480ndash490 2014

[8] M Arawwawala I Thabrew and L Arambewela ldquoIn vitroand in vivo evaluation of antioxidant activity of Trichosanthescucumerina aerial partsrdquo Acta Biologica Hungarica vol 62 no3 pp 235ndash243 2011

[9] M Arawwawala I Thabrew L Arambewela and S Handun-netti ldquoAnti-inflammatory activity of Trichosanthes cucumerinaLinn in ratsrdquo Journal of Ethnopharmacology vol 131 no 3 pp538ndash543 2010

[10] L D AMArawwawala ldquoAntibacterial activity ofTrichosanthescucumerina Linn extractsrdquo International Journal of Pharmaceu-tical amp Biological Archive vol 2 no 2 2011

[11] L D A M Arawwawala M I Thabrew and L S R Arambe-wela ldquoGastroprotective activity of Trichosanthes cucumerina inratsrdquo Journal of Ethnopharmacology vol 127 no 3 pp 750ndash7542010

[12] T Samatha R Shyamsundarachary P Srinivas and N RSwamy ldquoQuantification of total phenolic and total flavonoidcontents in extracts ofOroxylum indicum LKurzrdquoAsian Journalof Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research vol 5 no 4 pp 177ndash179 2012

[13] MOAgbo P FUzorUNAkazie-Nneji CU Eze-OdurukweU B Ogbatue and E C Mbaoji ldquoAntioxidant total phenolicand flavonoid content of selected Nigerian medicinal plantsrdquoDhaka University Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences vol 14 no1 pp 35ndash41 2015

[14] C B Sanjeevkumar R L Londonkar U M Kattegouda andN K A Tukappa ldquoScreening of in vitro antioxidant activity ofchloroform extracts of Bryonopsis laciniosa fruitsrdquo InternationalJournal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences vol 5 no3 pp 590ndash597 2016

[15] J Al-humaidi ldquoPhytochemical screening total phenolic andantioxidant activity of crude and fractionated extracts ofcynomorium coccineum growing in Saudi Arabiardquo EuropeanJournal of Medicinal Plants vol 11 no 4 pp 1ndash9 2016

[16] A Shukla R Tyagi S Vats and R K Shukla ldquoTotal phenoliccontent antioxidant activity and phytochemical screening ofhydroalcoholic extract of Casearia tomentosa leavesrdquo Journal ofChemical and Pharmaceutical Research vol 8 no 1 pp 136ndash1412016

[17] P Sudha S S Zinjarde S Y Bhargava andA R Kumar ldquoPotent120572-amylase inhibitory activity of Indian Ayurvedic medicinalplantsrdquo BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine vol 11article 5 2011

[18] T Liu L Song H Wang and D Huang ldquoA high-throughputassay for quantification of starch hydrolase inhibition basedon turbidity measurementrdquo Journal of Agricultural and FoodChemistry vol 59 no 18 pp 9756ndash9762 2011

[19] J S Negi V K Bisht A K Bhandari and R C SundriyalldquoDetermination of mineral contents of Digitalis purpurea Land Digitalis lanata Ehrhrdquo Journal of Soil Science and PlantNutrition vol 12 no 3 pp 463ndash469 2012

International Journal of Food Science 7

[20] D Shin ldquoAnalysis of dietary insoluble and soluble fiber contentsin school mealrdquoNutrition Research and Practice vol 6 no 1 pp28ndash34 2012

[21] F Alhakmani S A Khan and A Ahmad ldquoDeterminationof total phenol in-vitro antioxidant and anti-inflammatoryactivity of seeds and fruits of Zizyphus spina-christi grown inOmanrdquo Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine vol 4 ppS656ndashS660 2014

[22] S Choudhary B S Tanwer and R Vijayvergia ldquoTotal phe-nolics flavonoids and antioxidant activity of Tricosanthes cuc-umerena LinnrdquoDrug Invention Today vol 4 no 5 pp 368ndash3702012

[23] O Ademosun G Oboh T M Adewuni A J Akinyemi and TA Olasehinde ldquoAntioxidative properties and inhibition of keyenzymes linked to type-2 diabetes by snake tomato (Tricosan-thes cucumerina) and two tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum)varietiesrdquo African Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology vol7 no 33 pp 2358ndash2365 2013

[24] T P A Devasagayam J C Tilak K K Boloor K S Sane SS Ghaskadbi and R D Lele ldquoFree radicals and antioxidants inhuman health current status and future prospectsrdquo Journal ofAssociation of Physicians of India vol 52 pp 794ndash804 2004

[25] S K Singh and V Prakash ldquoScreening of antioxidant activityand phytochemicals strength of some herbal plantsrdquo Interna-tional Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences vol 5no 3 pp 296ndash300 2013

[26] I G Tamil B Dineshkumar M Nandhakumar M Senthilku-mar and A Mitra ldquoIn vitro study on 120572-amylase inhibitoryactivity of an Indian medicinal plant Phyllanthus amarusrdquoIndian Journal of Pharmacology vol 42 no 5 pp 280ndash282 2010

[27] NOA Ilelaboye andOO Pikuda ldquoDetermination ofmineralsand anti-nutritional factors of some lesser-known crop seedsrdquoPakistan Journal of Nutrition vol 8 no 10 pp 1652ndash1656 2009

[28] M O Weickert and A F H Pfeiffer ldquoMetabolic effects ofdietary fiber consumption and prevention of diabetesrdquo Journalof Nutrition vol 138 no 3 pp 439ndash442 2008

[29] J R Perry and W Ying ldquoA review of physiological effects ofsoluble and insoluble dietary fibersrdquo Journal of NutritionampFoodSciences vol 6 article 476 2016

[30] L Chambers K McCrickerd and M R Yeomans ldquoOptimisingfoods for satietyrdquo Trends in Food Science and Technology vol 41no 2 pp 149ndash160 2015

[31] J T Braaten P J Wood F W Scott K D Riedel L M PosteandMW Collins ldquoOat gum lowers glucose and insulin after anoral glucose loadrdquo The American Journal of Clinical Nutritionvol 53 no 6 pp 1425ndash1430 1991

[32] A N Osuagwu and H O Edeoga ldquoNutritional properties ofthe leaf seed and pericarp of the fruit of four Cucurbitaceaespecies from South-East Nigeriardquo IOSR Journal of Agricultureand Veterinary Science vol 7 no 9 pp 41ndash44 2014

[33] U P K Hettiaratchi S Ekanayake and J Welihinda ldquoSriLankan rice mixed meals effect on glycaemic index and con-tribution to daily dietary fibre requirementrdquoMalaysian Journalof Nutrition vol 17 no 1 pp 97ndash104 2011

Submit your manuscripts athttpwwwhindawicom

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Anatomy Research International

PeptidesInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom

International Journal of

Volume 2014

Zoology

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Molecular Biology International

GenomicsInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

The Scientific World JournalHindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

BioinformaticsAdvances in

Marine BiologyJournal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Signal TransductionJournal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

BioMed Research International

Evolutionary BiologyInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Biochemistry Research International

ArchaeaHindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Genetics Research International

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Advances in

Virolog y

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom

Nucleic AcidsJournal of

Volume 2014

Stem CellsInternational

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Enzyme Research

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

International Journal of

Microbiology

International Journal of Food Science 7

[20] D Shin ldquoAnalysis of dietary insoluble and soluble fiber contentsin school mealrdquoNutrition Research and Practice vol 6 no 1 pp28ndash34 2012

[21] F Alhakmani S A Khan and A Ahmad ldquoDeterminationof total phenol in-vitro antioxidant and anti-inflammatoryactivity of seeds and fruits of Zizyphus spina-christi grown inOmanrdquo Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine vol 4 ppS656ndashS660 2014

[22] S Choudhary B S Tanwer and R Vijayvergia ldquoTotal phe-nolics flavonoids and antioxidant activity of Tricosanthes cuc-umerena LinnrdquoDrug Invention Today vol 4 no 5 pp 368ndash3702012

[23] O Ademosun G Oboh T M Adewuni A J Akinyemi and TA Olasehinde ldquoAntioxidative properties and inhibition of keyenzymes linked to type-2 diabetes by snake tomato (Tricosan-thes cucumerina) and two tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum)varietiesrdquo African Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology vol7 no 33 pp 2358ndash2365 2013

[24] T P A Devasagayam J C Tilak K K Boloor K S Sane SS Ghaskadbi and R D Lele ldquoFree radicals and antioxidants inhuman health current status and future prospectsrdquo Journal ofAssociation of Physicians of India vol 52 pp 794ndash804 2004

[25] S K Singh and V Prakash ldquoScreening of antioxidant activityand phytochemicals strength of some herbal plantsrdquo Interna-tional Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences vol 5no 3 pp 296ndash300 2013

[26] I G Tamil B Dineshkumar M Nandhakumar M Senthilku-mar and A Mitra ldquoIn vitro study on 120572-amylase inhibitoryactivity of an Indian medicinal plant Phyllanthus amarusrdquoIndian Journal of Pharmacology vol 42 no 5 pp 280ndash282 2010

[27] NOA Ilelaboye andOO Pikuda ldquoDetermination ofmineralsand anti-nutritional factors of some lesser-known crop seedsrdquoPakistan Journal of Nutrition vol 8 no 10 pp 1652ndash1656 2009

[28] M O Weickert and A F H Pfeiffer ldquoMetabolic effects ofdietary fiber consumption and prevention of diabetesrdquo Journalof Nutrition vol 138 no 3 pp 439ndash442 2008

[29] J R Perry and W Ying ldquoA review of physiological effects ofsoluble and insoluble dietary fibersrdquo Journal of NutritionampFoodSciences vol 6 article 476 2016

[30] L Chambers K McCrickerd and M R Yeomans ldquoOptimisingfoods for satietyrdquo Trends in Food Science and Technology vol 41no 2 pp 149ndash160 2015

[31] J T Braaten P J Wood F W Scott K D Riedel L M PosteandMW Collins ldquoOat gum lowers glucose and insulin after anoral glucose loadrdquo The American Journal of Clinical Nutritionvol 53 no 6 pp 1425ndash1430 1991

[32] A N Osuagwu and H O Edeoga ldquoNutritional properties ofthe leaf seed and pericarp of the fruit of four Cucurbitaceaespecies from South-East Nigeriardquo IOSR Journal of Agricultureand Veterinary Science vol 7 no 9 pp 41ndash44 2014

[33] U P K Hettiaratchi S Ekanayake and J Welihinda ldquoSriLankan rice mixed meals effect on glycaemic index and con-tribution to daily dietary fibre requirementrdquoMalaysian Journalof Nutrition vol 17 no 1 pp 97ndash104 2011

Submit your manuscripts athttpwwwhindawicom

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Anatomy Research International

PeptidesInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom

International Journal of

Volume 2014

Zoology

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Molecular Biology International

GenomicsInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

The Scientific World JournalHindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

BioinformaticsAdvances in

Marine BiologyJournal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Signal TransductionJournal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

BioMed Research International

Evolutionary BiologyInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Biochemistry Research International

ArchaeaHindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Genetics Research International

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Advances in

Virolog y

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom

Nucleic AcidsJournal of

Volume 2014

Stem CellsInternational

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Enzyme Research

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

International Journal of

Microbiology

Submit your manuscripts athttpwwwhindawicom

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Anatomy Research International

PeptidesInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom

International Journal of

Volume 2014

Zoology

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Molecular Biology International

GenomicsInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

The Scientific World JournalHindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

BioinformaticsAdvances in

Marine BiologyJournal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Signal TransductionJournal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

BioMed Research International

Evolutionary BiologyInternational Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Biochemistry Research International

ArchaeaHindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Genetics Research International

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Advances in

Virolog y

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom

Nucleic AcidsJournal of

Volume 2014

Stem CellsInternational

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Enzyme Research

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

International Journal of

Microbiology