Ruellan school of Medicine microbiologist. The herb Arugula is an edible  Brassicaceae family
Channel: Ruellan School of Medicine
Date: 2018-09-21

Dr Peter Ruellan   Arugula  or rocket (Eruca sativa Brassica eruca L.) is an edible annual plant in the Brassicaceae family used as a leaf vegetable for its fresh peppery flavor. Other common names include garden rocket,  The Latin adjective sativa in the plant's binomial name is derived from satum, the supine of the verb sero, meaning "to sow", indicating that the seeds of the plant were sown in gardens. A pungent, leafy green vegetable resembling a longer-leaved and open lettuce, Eruca sativa is rich in vitamin C and potassium. In addition to the leaves, the flowers, young seed pods and mature seeds are all edible,Consumption of cruciferous vegetables is associated with reduced risk of various types of cancer. Isothiocyanates including sulforaphane and erucin are believed to be responsible for this activity. Erucin 1-isothiocyanato-4-(methylthio)butane which is metabolically and structurally related to sulforaphane, is present in large quantities in arugula (Eruca sativa,  kohlrabi and Chinese cabbage. However, its cancer preventive mechanisms remain poorly understood. We found that erucin inhibits proliferation of MCF7 breast cancer cells (IC50 = 28 µM) in parallel with cell cycle arrest at mitosis (IC50 = 13 µM) and apoptosis, by a mechanism consistent with impairment of microtubule dynamics. Concentrations of 5–15 µM erucin suppressed the dynamic instability of microtubules during interphase in the cells. Most dynamic instability parameters were inhibited, including the rates and extents of growing and shortening, the switching frequencies between growing and shortening, and the overall dynamicity. Much higher erucin concentrations were required to reduce the microtubule polymer mass