Abstract: Momordica charantiaL. fruits, leaves, seeds and roots are considered as valuable traditional medicine. It is considered antidotal, antipyretic, tonic, antispasmodic, mild hypotensive. It builds immunity, relieves fever and reduce cholesterol level. To give a scientific basis for medicinal usage of this medicinal plant, the fruit extract was evaluated for the analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities. In this study, the acute toxicity study, analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities of Momordica charantiaL. fruit extract were evaluated in a series of in vivo assay. Acetic acid induced writhing test and tail immersion test in mice were used to study the analgesic effect, while the effect of the extract on acute inflammation was investigated by carrageenan-induced paw edema in rats. For phytochemical analysisin vitro assay were performed according to the slandered procedure. The oral administration of M. charantia extract upto 2 g kg-1 in mice was found to be safe The extract significantly (p<0.001) inhibited acetic acid induced writhing and tail-immersion test induced pain at dose 500 mg kg-1, p.o. The extract also produced a moderate anti-inflammatory activity which was found to be significant at all the doses tested. The ethanolic extract showed 42.10% anti-inflammatory effect at dose 500 mg kg-1, p.o. Preliminary phytochemical screening of the extract revealed the presence of alkaloids, saponin, glycosides, steroids and sterol. The results obtained in this study lend credence to the ethnomedical use of the plant in the management of pain and inflammatory conditions. Thus, supporting the development of the biologically active substances as analgesics and anti-inflammatory agents. M. charantia may therefore, be a good candidate for functional foods as well as pharmaceutics.
M. Ullah, Mir Showkat, Nazim Uddin Ahmed, Saiful Islam and Nurul Absar, 2012. Evaluation of Momordica charantia L. Fruit Extract for Analgesic and Anti-inflammatory activities using in vivo Assay. Research Journal of Medicinal Plants, 6: 236-244.
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