Abstract
Genotoxicity is considered as a potential cause of various diseases including cancer. During the last decade, herbal extracts attained a great deal of attention due to its safe and effective applications against various DNA damaging agents. However, the mechanism of DNA strand breaks by various mutagens and genotoxins is often correlated with the generation of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). Herbal extracts constitute a number of phytochemicals and those are reported to have considerable antioxidant properties, which are in turn capable of neutralizing ROS mediated DNA damage. The botanical family Zingiberaceae is reported to have significant antioxidant and antigenotoxic potential by various researchers. Among a number of species belonging to this family, six species, namely Alpinia galanga, A. zerumbet, Curcuma amada, C. caesia, Zingiber officinale, and Z. zerumbet, attract notable attention due to their remarkable ethnobotanical and medicinal importance. This chapter deals with phytochemical composition, antioxidant, and antigenotoxic properties of these six Zingiberaceous plant extracts.
TopPhytochemical Composition
Phytochemical compounds are ubiquitous in the plant kingdom and studies on such compounds indicate their inherent pharmaceutical and nutraceutical values. The botanical family Zingiberaceae is reported to be the powerhouse of such chemicals. Various classes of Phyto-compounds such as phenolics, flavonoids, terpenoids, and curcuminoids are reported from the important members of this family such as A. galanga, A. zerumbet, C. amada, C. caesia, Z. officinale, and Z. zerumbet.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Zingiberaceae: Zingiberaceae is the botanical family consists of around 50 genera and more than 1600 species.
Antioxidant: A compound which prevents the oxidation of a substance by reducing it.
IC50: Inhibition Concentration 50, the particular concentration of a substance which is capable of inhibiting 50% of the corresponding biological or biochemical function.
Nutraceuticals: These are the substances which can provide nutrition which is otherwise not available and able to provide certain physiological benefits.
Phenolics: Phenolics are the antioxidant molecules; chemically they are aromatic benzene rings with one or more hydroxyl groups.