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Botany
Upo is a coarse vine reaching a length
of several meters. Leaves are rounded, 10 to 40 centimeters wide, softly
hairy on both sides, 5-angled or lobed. Flowers, white, large,
solitary, and monoecious or dioecious. Petals are ovate, 3 to 4 centimeters long. Calyx is hairy, with a funnel-shaped tube. Fruit is green, mottled
with gray or white, usually club-shaped, up to 80 centimeters long and 15 centimeters across, but in other forms, ovoid to depressed-globose and nearly as thick as it is long.
Distribution
- Cultivated throughout the Philippines.
- Naturalized in some parts of Mindanao.
- Pantropic in distribution.
Constituents
- Phytochemical screening yielded triterpenoids, flavonoids and steroids.
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Fruit is a good source
of iron, calcium, and phosphorus, vitamin B.
- Fruit is 6% sugar; the seeds contain a fixed oil and saponin.
- Study
isolated a new withanolide
- Seeds yield a clear, limpid oil.
- Extract study of fruits yielded two flavonoids, a triterpenoid, and a mixture of sterols. Spectral analyses showed oleanolic acid, ß-sitosterol, campesterol, isoquercitrin and kaempferol.
Properties
- Fruit considered antibiotic, antidote, aphrodisiac, cardiotonic, cardioprotective, diuretic, febrifuge, lithotriptic, poultice, purgative, vermifuge.
Parts
utilized
Pulp, fruit, shoots, leaves,
seeds.
Uses
Edibility / Nutrition
- One of the commonest vegetables raised in the Philippines.
- Flesh is white and soft, boiled and seasoned or used in stews or with fish.
- Pulp is an ingredient in many confections.
- Fruit is a good source of iron, calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin B.
- In West Tropical Africa, young shoots, leaves, and flower buds used as vegetable.
- Shoots boiled with milk or coconut milk to reduce the unpleasant flavor.
- Young fruits should be consumed within 2 weeks after harvest. Longer storage causes rapid water loss.
- In Japan, long strips of fruit skin are boiled, soaked in soya sauce with a little sugar, and used as sushi ingredient.
Folkloric
- Young shoots and leaves used for enema.
- Pulp used as purgative adjunct; also used for coughs, asthma, and poison
antidote.
- Green fruit in syrup used as a pectoral.
- Leaf juice or sugared decoction used as emetic. Also used in jaundice.
- Crushed leaves used for baldness; applied to the head for headaches.
- Seeds also used as antihelminthic.
- Juice of fruit used for stomach acidity, indigestion and ulcers.
- Poultice of seeds used for boils.
- In the Gold Coast young shoots and leaves used for enema.
- Pulp occasionally used as a adjunct to purgatives. Also used in coughs, and as antidote to certain poisons.
- Externally the pulp is applied as a poultice and cooling preparation to the shaved head in cases of delirium and applied to the soles in burning of the feet.
- Seed oil used as emollient application to the head and as a means of relieving headache. Oil also administered internally.
- In China, used for diabetes.
Others
- The dry shell of the fruit used for domestic utensils, bowls, pipes, bottles, horns or
musical instruments.
- Half-fruit shell used as a hat.
- In Kenya, the Luo make a large bugle from the bottle gourds, blown during ceremonies and chasing away animals. Also used for smoking cannabis.
 Studies
• Diuretic:
Study of the juice extract and methanol extract of LS showed
significantly significant diuretic potential, comparable to that of
furosemide.
• Immunomodulatory: Study of the methanolic extracts of the fruit of LS showed significant
dose-dependent delayed hypersensitivity reaction in rats with increase
in white cell and lymphocyte count. Results suggest a promising immunomodulatory
activity.
• Antihyperlipidemic: (1) Study of fruit extract of L siceraria significantly reduced the
total cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides and suggests a potential household
remedy for hyperlipidemia. (2) Study of methanolic extract of L siceraria demonstrated an antihyperlipidemic potential with significant elevation of HDl cholesterol. Results also provided a valid scientific basis for consumption for the treatment of coronary heart diseases in India.
• Phytochemicals / Antihyperlipidemic: Study revealed the presence of flavonoids, sterols, cucurbitacin saponins, polyphenolics, proteins and carbohydrates. Results marked hypolipidemic and antihyperlipidemic activity of the extracts.
• Anthelmintic: In a study using Pheretima posthuma as test worms, the methanol and benzene extracts significantly demonstrated paralysis and death of worms, compared to a standard of Piperazine. Results confirm the traditional use of the seeds of the plant as an antihelmintic.
• Antioxidant: Results showed that fresh fruit extract exhibited higher DPPH radical scavenging activity than other samples. Both fresh and dried fruits may give relatively similar antioxidant effects.
• Antioxidant / Biologic Activities: Extract was found effective as hepatoprotective, antioxidant, antihyperglycemic, immunomodulatory, antihyperlipidemic and cardiotonic. The various biologic activities may be due to the radical scavenging capacity of L siceraria.
• Antioxidant / Seeds: Study showed an ethanolic seed extract to possess significant antioxidant activity and a potential source as an excellent natural antioxidant.
• Anthelmintic / Antimicrobial: Study of extracts of leaves showed significant dose-dependent anthelmintic activity against earthworm Pheretima posthuma and tapeworm. Extracts also showed moderate antibacterial and antifungal activity against the microorganisms tested.
• Antihyperglycemic: Study of a methanol extract of aerial parts of L. siceraria in STZ-induced diabetes in rats showed potent antihyperglycemic activity probably attributable to its rich flavonoid content.
• Anti-Urolithiatic: Study of fruit powder of Lagenaria siceraria against sodium oxalate-induced urolithiasis in rats showed a beneficial anti-urolithiatic effect probably by decreasing CaOx excretion and preventing crystal deposition in the kidney tubules.
• Central Nervous System Effects: Study evaluated the analgesic and CNS depressant effects of extracts of leaves. A petroleum ether extract showed maximum analgesia compared to the methanol and chloroform extracts. The extracts Inhibited both central and peripheral mechanisms of pain. n the study on CNS-depressant effect, the methanolic extract showed significant reduction of spontaneous motor activity, with potentiation of pentobarbitone-induced sleep time.
• Cardioprotective: Treatment with Ls fruit juice showed a cardioprotective effect in isoproterenol-induced myocardial infarction in rats.
• Hepatoprotective / Antioxidant: Study in carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity showed potent hepatoprotective activity of a methanol extract probably attributable to its significant free radical scavenging activity and high polyphenolic and flavonoid contents.
Availability
Cultivated.
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