Antioxidant Activities and Cytotoxicities in Cancer Cells of Extracts of Dried Immature Bitter Melon (Momordica charantia L.)

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer related deaths worldwide with about 40% occurring in developing countries. The two varieties of Momordica charantia, which are Chinese and Indian bitter melon, have been subjected to antiproliferative activity in human non-small cell lung cells A549. The A549 cells were treated with hot and cold aqueous extraction for both the bitter melon varieties, and the antiproliferative activity was evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The apoptotic mechanism of action on A549 human lung cancer cells was evaluated first morphologically using Hoechst 33358, and cytoskeleton staining using Filamentous-actin (F-actin) cytoskeleton FICT and DAPI followed by caspase-3/7, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and p53 activity. Chinese hot aqueous extraction (CHA) exhibited potent antiproliferative activity against A549 human lung cancer cells. The morphological analysis of mitochondria destruction and the derangement of cytoskeleton showed apoptosis-inducing activity. CHA increased the caspase-3/7 activity by 1.6-fold and the ROS activity by 5-fold. Flow cytometric analysis revealed 34.5% of apoptotic cells significantly (p<0.05) compared to cisplatin-treated A549 human cancer cells. CHA is suggested to induce apoptosis due to their rich bioactive chemical constituents. These findings suggest that the antiproliferative effect of CHA was due to apoptosis via ROS-mediated mitochondria injury.

Download Full-text

(394) Antimutagenicity, Antioxidant Activity, and Polyphenolic Contents of Bitter Melon Varieties (Momordica charantia L.)

HortScience ◽

10.21273/hortsci.40.4.1033d ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 40 (4) ◽

pp. 1033D-1034 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Shahidul Islam ◽

M. Jalaluddin ◽

Navam Hettiarachchy

Keyword(s):

Gallic Acid ◽

Phenolic Acids ◽

Antioxidant Activities ◽

Dry Weight ◽

Momordica Charantia ◽

Blood Cholesterol ◽

Total Phenolic ◽

Bitter Melon ◽

Methanolic Extracts ◽

Freeze Dried

Bitter melon (Momordica charantia L.), an annual vegetable of Cucurbitaceae family, is a vegetable with important nutritional and medicinal qualities. Four adaptable lines/varieties were tested in replicated field trials for productivity, and biochemical and medicinal characteristics at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. The total phenolic contents of the oven-dried and freeze-dried tissues, and seeds, ranged from 5.39–7.75, 6.72–8.02, 6.40–8.90, and 4.67–6.69 mg·g-1 on a dry weight basis, respectively. The total phenolic content of bitter melon from India green (IG), India white (IW), China green (CG) and China white (CW) varieties were 4.67–6.72, 6.03–8.02, 5.39–7.81, and 6.69–8.90 mg·g-1 dry material, respectively. The main phenolic acids in bitter melon flesh were gallic acid, gentisic acid, catechin, chlorogenic acid, and epicatechin. Bitter melon seeds had the phenolic acids, gallic acid, catechin, and epicatechin. The antioxidant activities of methanolic extracts from the bitter melons varieties IG, IW, CG, and CW ranged from 79% to 85%, 79% to 83, 80% to 85, and 79% to 86% inhibition, respectively. The antioxidant activities of the seed ranged from 79% to 84% inhibition. Methanolic extracts of freeze-dried flesh and seed from var. IW and CG showed very high antimutagenic effects against benzo(a)pyrene with Salmonella TA98 (92% to 100% inhibition) TA100 (79% to 86% inhibition), but lower antimutagenicity activities against sodium azide that ranged from 46% to 54% and 17% to 32% inhibition, respectively. The popular belief that bitter melon improves glucose tolerance in Type II diabetes and lowers blood cholesterol is being investigated. It has not been determined which alkaloids, polypeptides, or combination of chemicals found in bitter melon are responsible for the beneficial medicinal effect.

Download Full-text

Bio-active compounds of bitter melon genotypes (Momordica charantia L.) in relation to their physiological functions

Functional Foods in Health and Disease ◽

10.31989/ffhd.v1i2.139 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 61 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Shahidul Islam ◽

Mohammad Jalaluddin ◽

Navam S. Hettiarachchy

Keyword(s):

Amino Acids ◽

Seed Coat ◽

Soy Protein ◽

Antioxidant Activities ◽

Momordica Charantia ◽

Bitter Melon ◽

Good Source ◽

Active Compounds ◽

Chinese White ◽

Nutritional Qualities

Background: Bitter Melon (Momordica charantia L) is one of the most popular cooked vegetables in many Asian countries. Its experimental use in mice has indicated improvement in glucose tolerance against Type II diabetes and reduction in blood cholesterol. However, it has not been proven which alkaloids, polypeptides, or their combinations in the Bitter Melon extract are responsible for the medicinal effects. Green and white varieties of Bitter Melon differ strikingly in their bitter tastes, green being much more bitter than white. It is not yet known whether they are different in their special nutritional and hypoglycemic properties. Nutritional qualities of Bitter Melons such as protein, amino acids, minerals, and polyphenolics contents were determined using four selected varieties such as Indian Green [IG], Indian White [IW], Chinese Green [CG], and Chinese White [CW] grown at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff [UAPB] Agricultural Research Center. Results indicated that protein levels of IW were significantly higher than IG in both flesh and seed. Methods: Four Bitter Melon varieties, Indian Green [IG], Indian White [IW], Chinese Green [CG] and Chinese White [CW] were used for phytochemical analyses to determine protein contents, protein hydrolysis, amino acids contents, and their antioxidant and antimutagenic activities. All analyses were conducted following standard methods. Statistical analyses were conducted using JMP 5 software package [SAS]. The Tukey’s HSD procedure was used for the significance of differences at the 5% level. Results: Moisture contents across the four varieties of Bitter Melon flesh ranged between 92.4 and 93.5%, and that of seed ranged between 53.3 and 75.9%. Protein contents of the flesh were highest in IW [9.8%] and lowest in CG [8.4%]. Seed protein contents were the highest in IW [31.3%] and lowest in IG [27.0%]. Overall, white varieties had higher protein contents than the green varieties. Compared with soy protein, most of the essential amino acid contents of Bitter Melon were similar as in soy proteins. Some amino acids such as Alanine, Glycine, and Valanine were relatively higher in Bitter Melon flesh than in soy protein. Phenolics contents of the flesh, seed, and seed coat tissue [SCT] were significantly different [p<0.05] among the four varieties. The four varieties were similar in their antioxidant activities of the flesh tissues; however, they were significantly different in their antioxidant activities in the seed and seed coat tissues [SCT]. Bitter melon varieties IW and CG, tested for antimutagenic effects, both flesh and seed had considerably high activities against benzo[a]pyrene with Salmonella TA98 [92-100% inhibition] and Salmonella TA100 [79-86% inhibition].Conclusion: Based on these studies, Bitter Melon is a good source of phenolic compounds. All four varieties tested showed considerably high antioxidant and antimutagenic activities. Therefore, these natural plant phenolics can be a good source of biologically active compounds that may be applied in many food systems to enhance food values and special nutritional qualities. Further studies will be needed using more genetically diverse varieties to pin point the bioactive and functional compounds and their physiological properties. Key words: Momordica charantia, protein, polyphenolics, antioxidant, antimutagenicity

Download Full-text