Therapeutic Insights into Cucumber Peel: Phytochemical Profiling and Docking Against Key Inflammatory Enzymes

Abstract

Cucumis sativus L, a widely consumed vegetable has been traditionally used for its medicinal properties. Despite its medical promise, little is known about this plant's phytochemicals. C. sativus exhibits anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-bacterial characteristics, demonstrating potential for the treatment of various inflammatory disorders. Therefore, present research aimed to investigate the metabolite profile of the methanolic peel extract of C. sativus using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and to evaluate its therapeutic potential through in-silico molecular docking analysis. The GC-MS analysis showed the diverse phytochemicals exhibited notable biological potentials. Pharmacokinetic evaluation using SwissADME revealed favorable drug-like properties for the identified compounds.  Furthermore, to evaluate the inhibitory potential of these compounds from C. sativus, all of the compounds were docked against the active sites of the target enzyme. Twelve bioactive compounds were identified from this peel extract, six of which exhibited great binding affinity to suppress the upregulation of three different enzymes. Notably, these phytocompounds showed inhibitory potential against the enzymes Serum Amyloid A, Neutrophil Elastase, and Interferon Gamma, which are linked with the pathogenesis of infections and inflammatory diseases including Pneumonia, Cystic Fibrosis, and Tuberculosis respectively. The results suggest that Cucumis sativus extract may be a valuable source of bioactive compounds for the prevention and treatment of different ailments including infectious and inflammatory disorders. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the therapeutic potential of this plant, making it possible for future drug discovery and development.