Chemical Compounds and Pharmacological Activities of Cucumis genus

Abstract

Cucumis genus is one of the genera from the Cucurbitaceae family. Cucumis genus plants have many health benefits. They are known as traditional medicinal plants in several countries in Asia, including Indonesia. This literature review discusses the topic of traditional use, phytochemical compounds, nutritional content, pharmacological activity, genotoxicology, and toxicity tests of the Cucumis genus plants based on data obtained from scientific databases and search engines such as PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, and Google Scholar. Cucumis genus plants contain many chemical compounds, such as cucurbitacin, phenolic compounds, vitamins, minerals, essential oils, and fatty acids. Several studies have shown that Cucumis genus plants exhibited some pharmacological activities such as antimicrobial, analgesic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antiwrinkle, and anticancer activity. Cucumis genus plants also have useful therapeutic effects for osteoarthritis, ulcerative colitis, and wound healing. Each part of Cucumis genus plants contains phytochemical compounds that are different from one another. Their pharmacological activities are also different, depending on the phytochemical compounds and Cucumis genus plants' plant parts. However, more recent studies are needed regarding the genotoxicology and toxicity of the Cucumis genus plants.