Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi, everyone, i'm a pharmacy student and i need your help in a huge final year project, it's due next year, but we have to do the bulk of it this year.

I need some good info on the properties of papaya seeds in the eradication of intestinal worms, aswell as the extraction process of it's active ingredient. I've been searching and searching, but all i'm able to get are bits and pieces of what i'm really looking for, and they dont help much.

So i'm asking someone to help me or direct me in finding some solid info on this topic.

Thanks a million , Desree.

Here are a couple of websites that I found from a Google search:

http://flavoursofindia.tripod.com/papaya.html

http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/med ... apaya.html

The latter one is a compilation of literature on papayas. At the end, they list the scientific papers they used in the compilation. You could search for some of those.

You might also try looking up the specific proteins and enzymes that are said to be anthelmintic (such as caricin), or information on the intestinal worms to see what makes them susceptible to these proteins.

Hope this helps!
Sonia