Venkataramanan Swaminathan
Management and Science University, Malaysia
Title: The study of hepatotoxicity effect of Momordica charantia on rat’s liver
Biography
Biography: Venkataramanan Swaminathan
Abstract
Momordica charantia is commonly known as bitter gourd, economically important medicinal plant. Bitter gourd comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. The substances that contain in bitter gourd are quinine, morodicine and monorcharins. Since bitter gourd has the monorcharins as its component, therefore high consumption of bitter gourd may cause liver toxicity. Liver is a main organ in regulating homeostasis in the body. It involves all biochemical pathways related to growth, fight against disease, nutrient supply, energy provision and reproduction. In order to have and maintain a healthy liver it is very crucial. The general term used for liver damage will be hepatotoxicity. The potential hepatotoxic effect from oral administration of aqueous extraction of Momordica charantia which was tested with albino Wistar rats. The 20 adult male rats were divided equally into four groups with 5 rats in each. Group A kept as a control while group B, C and D were fed with 500 mg/kg body weight, 600 mg/kg body weight and 700mg/kg of the extract daily for 14 days, respectively. On the 15th day blood was withdrawn and centrifuged for serum to test ALT, AST and total protein. Final result of this study showed that AST, ALT and total protein was high significantly compared to control group with P<0.05. In conclusion, the Momordica charantia aqueous extract causes hepatotoxicity at higher dosage.