Radical Scavenging Activity and Acute Toxicity of Bitter Melon (Momordica Charantia L.) Seeds Oil

Abstract

Bitter Gourd or bitter melon (Momordica Charantia L.) is a common type of vegetable which is safe for daily consumption. The seeds are bitter gourd part that useless. Research on bitter melon seeds oil has promising commercial applications. This study aims to determine the radical scavenging activity and safety of bitter melon seeds oil through acute toxicity study. The content of phenols, flavonoids, and antioxidant activity was analyzed. The radical scavenging activity was evaluated using the DPPH method. Antioxidant activity is expressed as an IC-50 value. The results showed that the phenol content of bitter melon seeds oil was 0.0118 ±0.0006%, the flavonoid content was 0.0127±0.0004%. From the radical scavenging activity study, the IC-50 of bitter melon seeds oil was 11.31 ± 0.77 mg/ml. The results of this radical scavenging activity study showed very weak activity. The results of the acute-toxicity study show the LD-50 cannot be determined precisely because up to the highest dose of 100 ml/kg does not cause death even though it causes toxic symptoms such as diarrhea. Overall, the results indicate that bitter melon seeds oil is a compound that is categorized as practically non-toxic with low antioxidant activity.