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

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 αamylase (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