Effects of Momordica Charantia (Bitter gourd) on Oxidative Stress and Pro-inflammatory marker in Metabolic Syndrome Using a High-fructose Diet Induced Rat Model

Abstract

To understand the biological basis of the effect of Momordicacharantia and also it’s effectiveness as a mono-therapy for metabolic syndrome. Thirty four adult male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing were divided into Groups I, II, III and IV having 10, 10, 8 and 6 animals respectively. Pellets with 66% fructose were fed to 28 animals [Groups I, II, III] while 6 normal control animals [Group IV] were fed with standard rat chow diet for 6 weeks. Later, for next 6 weeks, animals in Groups I, II and III were treated with M.charantia 300mg/kg/day, and600mg/ kg/day and Standard treatment respectively. Serial measurements of body weight, BMI, fasting blood sugar, noninvasive blood pressure, serum lipid profile, LDA, SOD and serum NF-êB were assessed at the base line, at the end of 6 weeks of fructose diet and following treatment (12 weeks). Following induction, there was statistically significant increase in body weight, BMI, FBS, serum triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL, lipid derived aldehydes and serum NF-êB while there was reduction in HDL cholesterol and SOD compared to baseline values. Following treatment Group II and III shown reversal of the parameters to the level of normalization. M.charantia 600mg/kg/day had exclusively matched the therapeutic efficacy of the standard therapy given in combination. The biological basis of the effects of M.charantia was by inhibiting the inflammatory pathway in metabolic syndrome both at the levels of ROS generation and transcription of pro-inflammatory marker NF-êB.