ANTIHYPERGLYCEMIC ACTIVITY OF CHARANTIN ISOLATED FROM FRUITS OF MOMORDICA CHARANTIA LINN.

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increased interest in the development of alternative medicines for maintaining glucose homeostasis in diabetes, specifically by screening plant extracts as well as their isolated compounds for their ability to delay or prevent carbohydrate metabolism and absorption. The objective of present study was to undertake in-vitro and in-vivo studies to generate a stronger biochemical rationale for the management of post prandial hyperglycaemia (PPHG) with charantin. In this study, charantin (β-sitosteryl glucoside) was isolated from Momordica charantia Linn. by normal phase column chromatography and screened for the inhibition of key enzymes related to carbohydrate metabolism. Charantin showed mild α-amylase (IC50 2.71± 0.21 mg/mL) and strong α-glucosidase (IC50 1.82±0.15 mg/mL) inhibitory activity. The positive in-vitro enzyme inhibition tests paved way for confirmatory in-vivo studies. The in-vivo studies demonstrated that charantin (20 mg/kg, b.w.) given orally significantly (P<0.01) reduced area under curve (AUC) in mice when challenged with oral administration of starch and sucrose separately. The reduction in AUC by charantin was comparable to that of acarbose (10 mg/kg, b.w., p.o.). These studies indicated the potential of charantin to prevent PPHG by inhibition of α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymes.