Eruca sativa L-A promising source of drug lead for antimicrobial, neuroprotective and anticancer treatment regimens: Pharmacological properties of medicinal plant “Eruca sativa”
Waseem Mohammed Abdul,a Syed Shoeb Razvi,a,✽
a MS Research Foundation, Masab Tank, Hyderabad, India.
Eur. J. Cell. Sci., Volume 1, Issue 1, pp. 17-21 (2019) Available online June 30th 2019
Abstract:
Rocket (Eruca sativa) is a low-calorie leafy vegetable of the family Brassicaceae under the genera Eruca mostly consumed raw in salads. It has been used since ancient times from food to medicine and cosmetics without any knowledge of the mechanism or the targets involved. However, presently, the production and cultivation of rocket have significantly increased owing to its different biological effects. Erucin and Sulforaphane are the most commonly studied isothiocyanates obtained from the plant parts of Eruca sativa. Over time, with continuous usage of conventional and synthetic drugs, the drug resistant and off-target toxicities rapidly increase, which necessitates for alternative medicine with increased specificity and minimal detrimental effects. It is interesting to note that many previous studies have reported the antimicrobial impact of E. sativa against the pathogenic bacterial species like Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhimurium, etc. Moreover, Erucin obtained from E. sativa has shown significant inhibitory and protective effect against different human cancer cell lines and xenograft animal models. The present review gives a brief overview of the antimicrobial, neuroprotective and anticancer effects of the various plant parts of E. sativa and the most bioactive isothiocyanates. It is exciting to note that epigenetic modulation of gene expression has also been reported in some studies which could be a new direction of research on the path of naturopathy.