Abstract
BackgroundMomordica charantia (MC) is a tropical plant that is extensively used in folk medicine. However, the knowledge about side effects of this plant is relatively little according to knowledge about its therapeutic effects. The aim of this study is to reveal the effects of non-allergic type-I like hypersensitivity to MC by an experiment which was designed in vitro.MethodsIn the present study, the expression of CD63 and CD203c on peripheral blood basophils against different dilutions of MC extracts was measured using flow cytometry and compared with one another. In addition to this, intra-assay CV’s of testing extracts were calculated for precision on reproducibility of test results.ResultsIt was observed that the fruit extract of MC at 1/100 and 1/1000 dilutions significantly increased active basophils compared to same extract at 1/10000 dilution.ConclusionsIn conclusion, Momordica charantia may elicit a non-allergic type-I like hypersensitivity reaction in especially susceptible individuals.
Highlights
Momordica charantia (MC) is a tropical plant that is extensively used in folk medicine
The numerous studies demonstrate that MC has lots of active plant chemicals such as triterpenes, proteins and steroids [4]
Bitter melon has a protein called Momordica anti-human immunovirus protein (MAP30) which is activates natural killer cells and increases production of interferon gamma that fights all types of viruses
Summary
Plant collection The Momordica charantia L., Sp. PL.2:1009 (1753) plant was collected from the Ida mountains in August 2011. Various concentrations were prepared from both seed and fruit extracts of bitter melon that were used for testing of stimulation capability of MC on basophils. For this purpose, A 100 μl of each concentrations of extracts and negative (stimulation buffer)/positive controls (anti-FcεR1 monoclonal antibody, fMLP) were added into the sample tubes. Intra-assay coefficients of variability (CV) for this experimental study was separately calculated from the percentages of active basophils in 7 replicates prepared from peripheral blood samples of three healthy individuals for stimulation buffer (background-negative control), stimulation controls (anti-FcεR1 monoclonal antibody, fMLP) and fruit extracts of MC within the same run. A p value < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant
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