• CELLMED
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1.1-1.6
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• 2020

Since times immemorial, people have been dependant on plants for the various nutritional and pharamacological properties. Folk and traditional medicine recognizes thousands of plant species having miraculous benefits. Fig (Ficus carica Linn.) has been part of folk-lore since centuries. Ficus carica Linn. (Moraceae) is a huge deciduous tree, with more than 800 species. Different parts of Ficus carica like bark, root, leaves, fruit and latex have their own valuable importance and are frequently used for the treatment of various illnesses. Fruit of Ficus carica is commonly called as fig (anjeer) has various medicinal properties used in Unani, Ayurvedic and Chinese traditional system of medicines. Fig fruit is mostly used in gastro intestinal and respiratory disorders. In Unani medicine, fig is used as a diuretic, mild laxative and expectorant. Phytochemical studies on the leaves and fruits of the plant have shown that they are rich in Phenolics, Flavonoids, Vitamin C, Alkaloids, Saponins, Coumarins, tannins, organic acids, and volatile compounds due to which it is having great antioxidant property. Most interesting therapeutic effects include hypoglycemic, hepatoprotective, anticancer, antimicrobial and hypolipidemic activities.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.88-94
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• 2024

In July 2021, symptoms of soft rot were observed on the stems of Ficus carica in Yeongam, Jeollanamdo, Korea. To accurately diagnose the cause, infected stem was collected and bacterial strain was isolated. Among these, the pathogenic strain KNUB-08-21 was identified as Pectobacterium aroidearum through 16S rRNA gene sequencing and phylogenetic analysis based on the concatenated sequences of the dnaX, leuS, and recA genes. The affiliation of the isolate with this bacterial species was also confirmed by its biochemical characteristics obtained using API ID 32 GN system. Artificial inoculation confirmed the strain's pathogenicity in figs, causing significant damage to both stems and fruits. To our knowledge, this is the first report of P. aroidearum causing soft rot disease in F. carica in Korea.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.99-106
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• 2020

Ficus carica L. (fig) is one of the first cultivated crops and is as old as humans. This plant has been extensively used as a traditional medicine for treating diseases, such as cough, indigestion, nutritional anemia, and tuberculosis. However, the physiological activity of fig leaves on oral cancer is as yet unknown. In this study, we investigated the anticancer effect of methanol extracts of Ficus carica (MeFC) and the mechanism of cell death in human FaDu hypopharyngeal squamous carcinoma cells. MeFC decreased the viability of oral cancer (FaDu) cells but did not affect the viability of normal (L929) cells, as determined by 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay and Live and Dead assay. In addition, MeFC induced apoptosis through the proteolytic cleavage of procaspase-3, -9, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), downregulation of Bcl-2, and upregulation of Bax, as determined by 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole dihydrochloride staining and western blot analysis. Moreover, a concentration of MeFC without cytotoxicity (0.25 mg/mL) significantly suppressed colony formation, a hallmark of cancer development, and completely inhibited the colony formation at 1 mg/mL. Collectively, these results suggest that MeFC exhibits a potent anticancer effect by suppressing the growth of oral cancer cells and colony formation via caspase- and mitochondrial-dependent apoptotic pathways in FaDu human hypopharyngeal squamous carcinoma cells. Therefore, the methanol extract of Ficus carcica leaves provide a natural chemotherapeutic drug for human oral cancer.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.183-190
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• 2017

Ficus carica L. (common fig), one of the first plants cultivated by humans, originated in the Mediterranean basin and currently grows worldwide, including southwest Asia and South Korea. It has been used as a traditional medicine for treatment of metabolic, cardiovascular, and respiratory diseases as well as hemorrhoids and skin infections. Its pharmacological properties have recently been studied in detail, but research on the anti-cancer effect of its latex has been only been studied on a limited basis on several cell lines, such prostate cancer, breast cancer, and leukemia. In this study, we investigated the anti-cancer activity of the latex of Ficus carica L.and its underlying mechanism in FaDu human hypopharynx squamous carcinoma cells. (See Ed. note above) We confirmed through SDS-PAGE analysis and gelatinolytic activity analysis that the latex of Ficus carica contains cysteine protease ficin. Our data showed that the latex inhibited cell growth in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, the latex treatment markedly induced apoptosis in FaDu cells as determined by FACS analysis, elevated expression level of cleaved caspase-9, -3 and PARP (poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase), and. increased the expression of Bax (pro-apoptotic factor) while decreasing the expression of Bcl-2 (anti-apoptotic factor). Taken together, these results suggested that latex containing the ficin inhibited cell growth and induced apoptosis by caspase and the Bcl-2 family signaling pathway in FaDu human hypopharynx squamous carcinoma cells. These findings point to the potential of latex of Ficus carica to provide a novel chemotherapeutic drug due to its growth inhibition effects and induction of apoptosis in human oral cancer cells.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.112-118
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• 2005

Fig(Ficus carica L.) which belongs to Moraceae family has been used as digestion promoter, cure for ulcerative inflammation and eruption in Korea. Figs have very short preservation period and can be kept only 1 week even in the refrigeration system. The possibility of wine-making from Korean figs was tested by analyzing the fermentation characteristics, proximate analysis and free sugar contents of wine made of slices with 20% sugar addition. Ethanol fermentation of the figs by Saccharomyces cerevisiae was done rapidly. The ethanol contents, pH, total acidity and sugar content were 12.1%, 3.91, 0.42% and 9.9 °Brix, respectively. The results from the sensory evaluation were as follows. The wine made from the sliced figs were better than that from fig juices in their sensory scores. The wine made with frozen figs was not different from that made with fresh ones. To improve the quality of wine, the addition of dried leaf powder in the concentration of 100 ppm were tried and found it was superior to the one made without leaf.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.566-573
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• 2002

In order to obtain the basic data fer the processing adaptability of Korean figs(Ficus carica L.), physicochemical analyses were carried out with Korean common type figs in the different ripening stages. Moisture contents decreased, but the contents of protein, fat carbohydrate and soluble solids increased according to the ripening of fruits. K was detected as the most abundant one of all the minerals and Ca, Mg, Na, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu were the next in order. The mineral contents decreased slightly with ripening. Especially, Ca, Mg, U, Fe and Zn were higher in the unripened H stage figs. The antioxidative activity was assayed with water and methanol extracts from ripened figs by the DPPH radical scavenging ability. The antioxidative activities of Korean figs were relatively high and increased in a dose dependent manner. The methanol extract showed the higher antioxidative activity than the water one. Therefore, the methanol was the better solvent than water for the antioxidative compounds. These results suggested that Korean figs are relatively the good sources of minerals, especially the Ca and the antioxidative compounds.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.243-248
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• 2008

The present research was conducted to determine insecticidal activity of methanol extract and its fractions from the fig (Ficus carica L.) leaves grown under different cropping conditions, glasshouse, plastic house, and outdoor. Methanol extracts from fig loaves grown at outdoor showed higher insecticidal activity (80 to 89%) against Tetranychus urticae than those at plastic house or glass house. Especially ethylacetate and hexane fractions from methanol extracts of fig leaves grown at outdoor exhibited the highest insecticidal activity against Tetranychus urticae, showing 92% and 90% control, respectively. The results suggest that methanol extract and its fractions from outdoor-grown fig leaves had the potent insecticidal activity as a plant-based insect control mean.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.288-295
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• 2017

Fig mosaic disease (FMD) is a viral disease that spreads in all Tunisian fig (Ficus carica L.) orchards. RT-PCR technique was applied to leaf samples of 29 fig accessions of 15 fig varieties from the fig germplasm collection of High Agronomic Institute (I.S.A) of ChattMariem, to detect viruses associated to FMD. Analysis results show that 65.5% of the accessions (19/29) and 80.0% (12/15) of the fig varieties are infected by FMD-associated viruses. From all fig accessions, 41.4% of them are with single infection (one virus) and 24.1% are with multi-infections (2 virus and more). Viruses infecting fig leaf samples are Fig mosaic virus (FMV) (20.7%), Fig milde-mottle-associated virus (FMMaV) (17.25%), Fig fleck associated virus (FFkaV) (3.45%), and Fig cryptic virus (FCV) (55.17%). A reliable protocol for FCV and FMMaV elimination from 4 local fig varieties Zidi (ZDI), Soltani (SNI), Bither Abiadh (BA), and Assafri (ASF) via in vitro culture of 3 meristem sizes was established and optimized. With this protocol, global sanitation rates of 79.46%, 65.55%, 68.75%, and 70.83% respectively for ZDI, SNI, BA, and ASF are achieved. For all sanitized varieties, the effectiveness of meristem culture for the elimination of FCV and FMMaV viruses was related to meristem size. Meristem size 0.5 mm provides the highest sanitation rates ranging from 70% to 90%.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.721-730
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• 2017

This study determined the optimal mixing ratio of functional materials to enhance the functionality of batter for fish cutlets. An optimal mixing ratio of the hiziki Hizikia fusiformis, fig fruit Ficus carica L. and pear Pyrus pyrifolia Niitaka extracts (HFP extract) of 3:1:1 was found. The physicochemical properties of the mixture were as follows: total phelonic contents of $1187.29{\pm}41.55mg/L$, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity of $61.50{\pm}2.33%$, ascorbic acid content of $23.68{\pm}0.02g/100g$, ${\beta}-carotene$ content of $51{\pm}3.92{\mu}g/100g$, and sugar content of $12.7{\pm}0.1Brix^{\circ}$. A mixture of the extract, Korean herbal powder, and wheat flour was prepared as the fish cutlet batter. The fish cutlet prepared with the batter had a hardness of $166-202g/cm^2$ and Hunter's color scale values L of $31.14{\pm}2.1$ to $34.62{\pm}1.3$, a of $-4.89{\pm}0.21$ to $-2.26{\pm}0.19$ and b of $-20.65{\pm}2.65$ to $28.93{\pm}3.14$. The FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidant power) and VBN (volatile basic nitrogen) of the fish cutlets were measured to evaluate functionality and determine the optimal mixing ratio for cold storage at $-12^{\circ}C$, $-18^{\circ}C$, and $-24^{\circ}C$. The optimum mixture ratio of extracts /Korean herbal powder/ wheat flour was 1:6:3.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.405-413
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• 2010

Fig (Ficus carica L.) belongs to the mulberry tree (Moraceae) which is one of the oldest fruits in the world. It has been used as a digestion promoter and a cure for ulcerative inflammation and eruption in Korea. The present study investigated the antimicrobial activity of methanol (MeOH) extract of fig leaves against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolated in clinic. The MeOH extract (MICs, 2.5 to 20 mg/mL; MBCs, 5 to 20 mg/mL) was demonstrated as antibacterial activity in isolates MRSA 1-20. The administration of the MeOH extract in combination with oxacillin or ampicillin induced a reduction of ${\geq}$4-8-fold in all tested bacteria, which was considered to be synergistic based on a FICI of ${\leq}$0.375-0.5. Furthermore, time-kill study was found that a combination of MeOH extract with oxacillin or ampicillin produced a more rapid decrease in the concentration of bacteria CFU/mL than MeOH extract alone. The results suggest that fig leaves could be employed as a natural antibacterial agent in MRSA infection care products.