€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ *****AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NUTRITION***** Suphakarn VS Yarnnon C Ngunboonsri P The effect of pumpkin seeds on oxalcrystalluria and urinary compositions of children in hyperendemic area. In: Am J Clin Nutr (1987 Jan) 45(1):115-21 ISSN: 0002-9165 We investigated the effect of pumpkin-seed supplementation on oxalcrystalluria and urinary composition in 20 boys age 2-7 yr from a hyperendemic area of Ubol province in Thailand. The experiment had four periods: control (before treatment), oxalate supplementation 5mg X kg-1 body wt X day-1, pumpkin-seed or orthophosphate supplementation 60 mg X kg body wt-1 X day-1, and posttreatment. Causal morning and 24-h urines were collected analyzed for crystalluria, pH, calcium, phosphorous, oxalate, creatinine, sodium, potassium, citrate glycosaminoglycans, and pyrophosphate. The results demonstrated that the longer the supplementation period of pumpkin seeds, the better were the results. Pumpkin seeds lowered calcium- oxalate crystal occurrence and calcium level but increased phosphorus, pyrophosphate, glycosaminoglycans, and potassium values in urine as compared with orthophosphate supplementation. Pumpkin seeds provide high phosphorus levels and can be used as a potential agent in lowering the risk of bladder-stone disease. €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ *****BIOCHEMISTRY***** Hojima Y Pierce JV Pisano JJ Pumpkin seed inhibitor of human factor XIIa (activated Hageman factor) and bovine trypsin. In: Biochemistry (1982 Aug 3) 21(16):3741-6 ISSN: 0006-2960 A strong inhibitor of human Hageman factor fragment (HFf, beta-factor XIIa) and bovine trypsin was isolated from pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) seed extracts by acetone fractionation, by chromatography on columns of diethyl-aminoethylcellulose and carboxylmethyl-Sephadex C-25, and by Sephadex G-50 gel filtration. Pumpkin seed Hageman factor inhibitor (PHFI) is unusual in its lack of inhibition of several other serine proteinases tested--human plasma, human urinary, and porcine pancreatic kallikreins, human alpha-thrombin, and bovine alpha-chymotrypsin. Human plasmin and bovine factor Xa are only weakly inhibited. PHFI also inhibits the HFf-dependent activation of plasma prekallikrein and clotting of plasma. Other properties of PHFI are a pI of 8.3, 29 amino acid residues, amino-terminal arginine, carboxyl-terminal glycine, 3 cystine residues, undetectable sulfhydryl groups and carbohydrate, and arginine at the reactive site. The minimum molecular weight of PHFI is 3268 by amino acid analysis. PHFI may be the smallest protein inhibitor of trypsin known Registry Numbers: EC 3.4.21.1 (Chymotrypsin) EC 3.4.21.34 (Kallikrein) EC 3.4.21.5 (Thrombin) EC 3.4.21.7 (Plasmin) 65522-14-7 (Factor Va) 9001-24-5 (Factor V) 9001-30-3 (Factor XII) €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ *****ACTA PHARMACEUTICA HUNGARICA***** Matus Z Molnar P Szabo LG [Main carotenoids in pressed seeds (Cucurbitae semen) of oil pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo convar. pepo var. styriaca)] Olajtok (Cucurbita pepo convar. pepo var. styriaca) magjabol nyert presmaradek ossz-karotinoid-tartalmanak es karotinoid-osszetetelenek meghatarozasa. In: Acta Pharm Hung (1993 Sep) 63(5):247-56 ISSN: 0001-6659 (Published in Hungarian) Various use of the oil-pumpkin offers reason for the phytochemical analysis of seed-meal's carotene pigments. Column chromatography was performed on the adsorbents MgO, Celite and CaCO3 with hexane and benzene as eluents. HPLC separation of different pigments was carried out on a 6 microns reverse phase packing with a ternary gradient elution method using a diode-array detector. The main components of the press-residue were lutein [3,3'-dihydroxy-alpha-carotene = (3R,3'R,6'R)-beta,epsilon-carotene-3,3'-diol; 52.5%] and beta- carotene (beta,epsilon-carotene; 10.1%). In addition to the above- mentioned pigments it was successful to reveal the presence of violaxanthin, luteoxanthin, auroxanthin epimers, lutein epoxide, flavoxanthin, chrysanthemaxanthin, 9(9')-cis-lutein, 13(13')-cis- lutein, 15-cis-lutein (central-cis)-lutein, alpha-cryptoxanthin, beta- cryptoxanthin and alpha-carotene (beta,epsilon-carotene) in small quantities. €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ *****ARCHIVOS LATINOAMERICANOS DE NUTRICION***** Salgado JM Takashima MK [Chemical and biological characterization of meal and protein isolates from pumpkin seed (Cucurbita moschata)] Caracterizacao quimica e biologica da farinha e isolado proteico de semente de abobora (Cucurbita moschata). In: Arch Latinoam Nutr (1992 Dec) 42(4):443-50 ISSN: 0004-0622 (Published in Portuguese) The present study was carried out in order to check through chemical and biological analyses the nutritional characteristics of pumpkin seed, its delipidized meal and its proteic concentrate, considering its availability, nutritional potential, facility for production in poor soils and the need for new food resources. Another objective was to complement the amino acid pattern of pumpkin with others protein sources for human consumption. The results obtained indicate that: Raw pumpkin seed meal has a proteic values of 37.6% and the delipidized meal 68.8%; The PER values for raw seed meal and delipidized meal were 2.26 and 1.65, respectively; The chemical composition revealed that the delipized pumpkin seed meal was limited in threonine (66.8%); The isolate and seed meal proteins were both complemented with lysine and with cowpea bean meal; Whole pumpkin seed meal obtained from variety Caravelle is a good caloric material (approximately 568 cal/100 g). €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ *****BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA***** Yamamoto T Kozono K Kambara T Cochrane CG The Hageman factor-dependent system in the vascular permeability reaction. In: Biochim Biophys Acta (1988 Aug 11) 966(2):196-206 ISSN: 0006-3002 The mechanism by which the Hageman factor-dependent system induces vascular permeability has been analyzed. The Mr-28,000 active fragment of guinea pig Hageman factor (beta-HFa), injected intradermally, induces an increase in local vascular permeability. Inhibition of vascular permeability resulted from pretreatment of the beta-HFa with immunopurified anti-Hageman factor F(ab')2 antibody at concentrations of 10(-6)-10(-7) M as well as by incubation with corn and pumpkin seed inhibitors of beta-HFa. To determine whether prekallikrein and kallikrein participated in the permeability induced by beta-HFa, circulating prekallikrein was depleted by intra-arterial injections of anti-prekallikrein F(ab')2 antibody. This resulted in about 80% diminution of the vascular permeability response to beta- HFa, without affecting the permeability reaction to bradykinin. Soybean trypsin inhibitor (10(-6) M), injected at the same cutaneous site as the beta-HFa, inhibited the vascular permeability response to beta-HFa by more than 90%. This concentration of soybean inhibitor blocked more than 90% of the activity of guinea pig plasma kallikrein, but did not inhibit the amidolytic capacity of beta-HFa. The permeability activity of beta-HFa (but not its amidolytic activity) was augmented 10-fold by simultaneous injection of a synthetic kinin potentiator, SQ 20,881 (Glu-Tyr-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gln-Ile- Pro-Pro-OH), and was almost completely inhibited by the simultaneous injection of a kinin-destroying enzyme, carboxypeptidase B. These results support the hypothesis that the greatest proportion of vascular permeability induced by beta-HFa is produced by the activation of prekallikrein followed by the release of kinin in the cutaneous tissue. These data offer the first in vivo evidence that the Hageman factor-dependent system by itself can induce inflammatory changes. Registry Numbers: 58-82-2 (Bradykinin) 9001-30-3 (Factor XII) 9055-02-1 (Prekallikrein) €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ *****PHARMACOLOGICAL RESEARCH***** Fahim AT Abd-el Fattah AA Agha AM Gad MZ Effect of pumpkin-seed oil on the level of free radical scavengers induced during adjuvant-arthritis in rats. In: Pharmacol Res (1995 Jan) 31(1):73-9 ISSN: 1043-6618 Pumpkin-seed oil (PSO), a natural supplement rich with antioxidant ingredients, was given to rats in which arthritis was induced using Freund's complete adjuvant. Its effect was compared with that of indomethacin, as a classical anti-inflammatory agent. Two experimental patterns were studied, an acute phase that was applied only with PSO and a chronic phase applied for both PSO and indomethacin. Compared to normal untreated rats, it was shown that the induction of arthritis caused a decrease in serum sulphhydryl groups, with an increase in serum ceruloplasmin in both phases. Blood glutathione was first elevated in the acute phase, then its level was reduced in the chronic phase. Serum N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase activity was elevated only at the acute phase, while plasma total proteins and albumin were reduced at the chronic phase. Liver glucose- 6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity was markedly increased, while no changes were observed in the levels of liver lipid peroxides and glutathione. These changes in the studied parameters were attributed to the superoxides and free radicals during arthritic inflammation. Administration of PSO succeeded in modulating most of the altered parameters affected during arthritis, especially at the chronic phase. Also, a remarkable inhibition of paw oedema was observed. A similar pattern was obtained upon treatment with indomethacin except that indomethacin markedly elevated liver lipid peroxides levels. Concurrent administration of PSO with indomethacin caused no changes in the parameters studied compared to that induced by treatment with indomethacin alone. Registry Numbers: 53-86-1 (Indomethacin) 70-18-8 (Glutathione) €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ *****ZEITSCHRIFT FUR LEBENSMITTEL-UNTERSUCHUNG UND -FORSCHUNG***** Murkovic M Hillebrand A Winkler J Leitner E Pfannhauser W Variability of fatty acid content in pumpkin seeds (Cucurbita pepo L.). In: Z Lebensm Unters Forsch (1996 Sep) 203(3):216-9 ISSN: 0044-3026 Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) seed oil is a common salad oil which is produced in Slovenia, Hungary and the southern parts of Austria. It is dark green and has a high content of free fatty acids. The seed itself can be eaten. Due to its colour and the foam formation, the oil cannot be used for cooking. The content of vitamin E, especially gamma-tocopherol, is very high. The oil content of the pumpkin seed is about 50%. The variability in the oil content is very high resulting from a broad genetic diversity. Thus a breeding programme for increasing the oil productivity is very promising. The four dominant fatty acids are palmitic, stearic, oleic and linoleic acids. These four fatty acids make up 98 +/- 0.13% of the total amount of fatty acids, others being found at levels well below 0.5%. Registry Numbers: 112-80-1 (Oleic Acid) 1406-18-4 (Vitamin E) 2197-37-7 (linoleic acid) 57-10-3 (Palmitic Acid) 57-11-4 (stearic acid) €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ Murkovic M Hillebrand A Winkler J Pfannhauser W Variability of vitamin E content in pumpkin seeds (Cucurbita pepo L.). In: Z Lebensm Unters Forsch (1996 Apr) 202(4):275-8 ISSN: 0044-3026 Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) seed oil is a common salad oil which is produced in the southern parts of Austria, Slovenia and Hungary. It is dark green and has a high content of free fatty acids. Due to its colour, the oil cannot be used for cooking. The content of vitamin E, especially gamma-tocopherol, is very high. The oil content of the pumpkin seed is about 50%. The seed itself can be eaten. Therefore a pumpkin variety with high vitamin E content is desirable. The aim of this work was to find a variety of Cucurbita pepo which has a high oil yield and a high vitamin E content. A total of 100 breeding lines were tested for their tocopherol content. The tocopherols and tocotrienols are extracted with hexane and analysed by NP-HPLC/FLD with hexane/dioxan (96/4) as eluent, with fluorescence detection at 292/335 nm. The gamma-tocopherol content, which is about 5-10 times as much as that of alpha-tocopherol varies over a broad range (41-620 mg/kg dry pumpkin seeds). Beta- and delta-tocopherol are found at low levels. Registry Numbers: 1406-18-4 (Vitamin E) €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€