The name Zingiber actually stems from a Sanskrit word which means a Bull's Horn. The leaves can be purple located beneath the young shoots and are rather thin and around 25-35cm in length.
Zerumbone significantly showed an antiproliferative activity upon HepG2 cells with an IC50 of 3.45 ± 0.026 μg/ml. Zerumbone was also found to inhibit the proliferation of non-malignant Chang Liver and MDBK cell lines.
Zerumbone was found to induce the apoptotic process in HepG2 cells through the up and down regulation of Bax/Bcl-2 protein independently of functional p53 activity.
Anti-Inflammatory - In this paper, zerumbone (1), 3-O-methyl kaempferol (2), kaempferol-3-O-(2, 4-di-O-acetyl-α-l-rhamnopyranoside) (3), and kaempferol-3-O-(3,4-di-O-acetyl-α-l-rhamnopyranoside) (4) were isolated from the rhizome of Z. zerumbet.
According to the in vitro study, 1 had greater anti-inflammatory effects than 2. Therefore, mice were administered with 1 (10 mg/kg) 1 h before carrageenan injection, and the oedema was significantly attenuated compared to the vehicle control.
Mature rhizomes were richer in 1 and lower in moisture. We suggest that the economic cultivation period of Z. zerumbet is the 5th month after seeding when its functions as food and anti-inflammatory are maximum, because 1 is dramatically increased at that time.
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