In vivo hypoglycaemic effect of ethanolic extract of Momordica charantia using albino rats of wistar strain

Abstract

No wonder diabetes is a “Silent Killer” and 8th leading cause of death in the industrialized world. It is a chronic disorder of carbohydrate metabolism, characterized by hyperglycaemia and glycosuria produced by an absolute or relative insufficiency of Insulin, associated with disturbance of fat and protein metabolism. To put an end to this dreadful disease seems to be a painstaking task. Many of the synthetic hypoglycaemic drugs can produce serious side effects including haematological, luteneous and gastrointestinal reactions and disturbances of liver and kidney, besides certain oral hypoglycaemic agents are not effective in lowering the blood sugar in chronic diabetic patients. Therefore in the last two decades, there has been considerable emphasis on development of drugs from medicinal plants. A large number of plant and mineral compounds have been mentioned in the ancient treatises of siddha, ayurvedic and Tibbi medicine as valuable in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. The Momordica charantia has been extensively studied in various aspects, but a meagre work has been done in assessing its anti-hyperglycaemic activity of its various parts such as leaves, fruits and seeds that are commonly and widely used for the edible purpose by the large number of population, because it possess blood glucose lowering effect. The ethanolic extract of the plant were treated for the diabetes induced albino rats of wistar strain. The results of the body weight, serum glucose, lipid profile and antioxidant enzymes were recovered in the treated rats than the diabetic group. Histopathology of pancreas, liver and kidney reveals that regeneration of the damaged tissue was observed. Therefore the experiment proves that seed extract of Momordica charantia has the more anti-diabetic activity.