Hypotriglyceridemic and hypocholesterolemic effects of anti-diabetic Momordica charantia (karela) fruit extract in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

Momordica charantia (karela) is commonly used as an antidiabetic and antihy perglycemic agent in Asian, Oriental and Latin American countries. This stu dy was undertaken to investigate the effects: of long term feeding (10 week s) of M. charantia fruit extract on blood plasma and tissue lipid profiles in normal and streptozotocin (STZ)-induced Type 1 diabetic rats. The result s show that there was a significant (P < 0.05) increase in plasma non-ester ified cholesterol, triglycerides and phospholipids in STZ-induced diabetic rats, accompanied by a decrease in high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholester ol. A moderate increase in plasma (LPO) product, malonedialdehyde (MDA). an d about two-fold increase in kidney LPO was also observed in STZ-induced di abetic rats. The treatment of diabetic rats with M. charantia fruit extract over a 10-week period returned these levels close tio normal. In addition. karela juice also exhibited an inhibitory effect on membrane LPO under in vitro conditions. These results suggest that M. charantia fruit extract exh ibits hypolipidemic as well as hypoglycemic effects in the STZ-induced diab etic rat. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.