Holistic Health Articles and Research Related to Herbal Medicines, Foods and Phytochemicals : Chinese Herbs

Wednesday, 6 November 2013

Chinese Herbs – Ku Gua (fructus Momordicae charantiae)

Ku Gua, Liang gua, Ban sheng gua is also known as bitter melon. The bitter and cold herb has been used in TCM as an antivirus, anti-cancer, anti-malaria agent and to lower blood lipids and blood sugar, treat , etc., as it clear heat, reduce toxins, etc. by enhancing the function of heart, lung, spleen and stomach channels

Ingredients
1. 5α-Stigmasta-7,25-dien-3β-ol
2. 5-hydroxytryptamine
3. Alkaloids
4. α-Elaeostearic-acid
5. Ascorbigen
6. β-sitosterol-d-glucoside
7. Charantin
8. Cirulline
9. Cryptoxanthin (cryptoxanthol)
10. Elasterol
11. Flavochrome
12. Fluoride
13. Gamma-aminobutyric acid
14. Galacturonic acid
15. Lanosterol
16. Lutein
17. Lycopene
18. Momordicin
19. Etc.

Health Benefits

1. Cytotoxicity Activities

In the isolation of two new cucurbitane-type triterpene glycosides called charantagenins D (1) and E (2) and one new sterol , 7-oxo-stigmasta-5,25-diene-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (3) have from the fruit of momordica charantia L. together with eight known compounds, showed significant cytotoxic activity against 3 cell lines and the concentrations to inhibit 50% of cells (IC50) values of 1 to A549, U87 and Hep3B were much lower (1.07,1.08,14.01 μg/mL), according to”Structures of New Triterpenoids and Cytotoxicity Activities of the Isolated Major Compounds from the Fruit of Momordica charantia L” by Wang X, Sun W, Qu H, Cao J, Zhao Y, Bi X.(1)

2. Antioxidants

In the evaluation of the antioxidant activity of the total aqueous extract (TAE) and total phenolic extract (TPE) of Momordica charantia fruits, indicated that the extract at 50 microg/mL also had significant and slightly protective effects on fibroblasts against H(2)O(2)- and HX-XO-induced damage, respectively. RCF was more tolerant toward the damage. For keratinocytes, a dose-dependent relationship of oxidant toxicity was only seen with H(2)O(2) but the protective action of the extract correlated with oxidant dosage. At 200 and 300 microg/mL TPE, cytoprotection was dose-dependent against oxidants, according to “In vitro evaluation of antioxidants of fruit extract of Momordica charantia L. on fibroblasts and keratinocytes” by Kumar R, Balaji S, Sripriya R, Nithya N, Uma TS, Sehgal PK.(2)

3. Anti diabetes

In the examination of the effect of BM supplementation on cell size and lipid metabolism in adipose tissues, showed that BM can reduce insulin resistance as effective as the anti-diabetic drug TZD. Furthermore, BM can suppress the visceral fat accumulation and inhibit adipocyte hypertrophy, which may be associated with markedly down regulated expressions of lipogenic genes in the adipose, according to “Bitter melon (Momordica charantia L.) inhibits adipocyte hypertrophy and down regulates lipogenic gene expression in adipose tissue of diet-induced obese rats” by Huang HL, Hong YW, Wong YH, Chen YN, Chyuan JH, Huang CJ, Chao PM.(3)

4. Trypanocide, cytotoxic, and antifungal activities

In the evaluation of the extract of M. charantia for its antiepimastigote, antifungal, and cytotoxic activities, found that the effective concentration capable of killing 50% of parasites (IC(50)) was 46.06 µg/mL. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was ≤ 1024 µg/mL. Metronidazole showed a potentiation of its antifungal effect when combined with an extract of M. charantia, according to “Trypanocide, cytotoxic, and antifungal activities of Momordica charantia” by Santos KK, Matias EF, Sobral-Souza CE, Tintino SR, Morais-Braga MF, Guedes GM, Santos FA, Sousa AC, Rolón M, Vega C, de Arias AR, Costa JG, Menezes IR, Coutinho HD.(4)

5. Metabolic syndrome

In the investigation of whether bitter melon seed (BMS) alleviates the symptoms associated with metabolic syndrome and elucidate the mechanism by which BMS exerts beneficial effects, found that BMS improves the serum and liver lipid profiles and serum glucose levels by modulating PPAR-γ gene expression. To our knowledge, this study for the first time shows that BMS exerts cardioprotective effects by down-regulating the NF-κB inflammatory pathway, according to “Dietary bitter melon seed increases peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ gene expression in adipose tissue, down-regulates the nuclear factor-κB expression, and alleviates the symptoms associated with metabolic syndrome” by Gadang V, Gilbert W, Hettiararchchy N, Horax R, Katwa L, Devareddy L.(5)

6. Antileishmania
In the determination of Aqueous extract of the green fruits of the Indian plant Momordica charantia and purified Momordicatin structurally established as 4-(o-carboethoxyphenyl) butanol in vitro and in vivo for their effect against kala-azar caused by Leishmania donovani.

revealed that the mode of action of these newly found antileishmanial agents is mediated through inhibiting parasite SOD which is one of the key enzymes of the oxidative burst. It may be proposed from the present study that both crude extract of Momordica charantia and Momordicatin obtained from the fruits of the said plant may be considered as potential candidates towards developing new chemotherapeutics against leishmaniasis, according to “Momordicatin purified from fruits of Momordica charantia is effective to act as a potent antileishmania agent” by Gupta S, Raychaudhuri B, Banerjee S, Das B, Mukhopadhaya S, Datta SC.(6)

7. Anti cancers

In the observation of methanol extracts from leaves of 51 plant species from Brazilian plants collected in the State of Minas Geraiswere for their cytotoxicity against four tumor cell lines: B16 (murine skin), HL-60 (human leukemia), MCF-7 (human breast), and HCT-8 (human colon) showed that The most active extracts against the tumor cells were those obtained from Lantana fucata, Copaifera langsdorffii, and Momordica charantia. These three extracts inhibited sea urchin development from the first cleavage, but those from C. langsdorffii and M. charantia were very active against mouse erythrocytes. Only the L. fucata extract presented no hemolytic activity, according to “Evaluation of native and exotic Brazilian plants for anticancer activity” by dos Santos Júnior HM, Oliveira DF, de Carvalho DA, Pinto JM, Campos VA, Mourão AR, Pessoa C, de Moraes MO, Costa-Lotufo LV.(7)

8. Antiulcer activity

In the study of evaluation of the effect of standardized methanolic extract of Momordica charantia L. fruits on gastric and duodenal ulcers, revealed that The healing of acetic acid induced gastric ulcer was increased by both doses of the extract. In pylorus-ligated rats, the extract showed significant decrease in ulcer index, total acidity, free acidity and pepsin content and an increase in gastric mucosal content. The extract also reduced the ulcer index in stress induced, ethanol induced and indomethacin induced gastric ulcers and cysteamine induced duodenal ulcer, according to “Antiulcer activity of methanolic extract of Momordica charantia L. in rats” by Alam S, Asad M, Asdaq SM, Prasad VS.(8)

9. Etc.

Side Effects
1. Do not use the herb in newborn, children or if you are pregnant or breast feeding with out approval first with the related field specialist
2. May not be used in case of kidney yang deficiency
3. Over odses can be toxic that lead to immunotoxicity and hepatotoxicity(a)

4. Etc.