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Effect of Bitter Gourd (Momordica charantia) on Glycaemic Status in

Streptozotocin Induced Diabetic Rats

Article  in  Plant Foods for Human Nutrition · October 2005

DOI: 10.1007/s11130-005-6837-x · Source: PubMed

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 Plant Foods for Human Nutrition 60: 109–112, 2005.


C 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 109
DOI: 10.1007/s11130-005-6837-x

Effect of Bitter Gourd (Momordica charantia) on Glycaemic Status in Streptozotocin Induced

Diabetic Rats

∗
A.K. SHETTY, G. SURESH KUMAR, K. SAMBAIAH & P.V. SALIMATH
Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore 570 020, India (∗ author for correspondence; e-mail:
[email protected])

Abstract. Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia), a commonly consumed and fermentability [8]. Since none of the reported literature
vegetable is used as an adjunct in the management of diabetes mellitus. is conclusive, a systematic study was carried out with bitter
A study was carried out to examine the effect of edible portion of bitter
gourd powder.
gourd at 10% level in the diet in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. To
evaluate the glycaemic control of bitter gourd during diabetes, diet intake,
gain in body weight, water intake, urine sugar, urine volume, glomerular
filtration rate and fasting blood glucose profiles were monitored. Water Materials and Methods
consumption, urine volume and urine sugar were significantly higher in
diabetic controls compared to normal rats and bitter gourd feeding al-
Streptozotocin, 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid were obtained from
leviated this rise during diabetes by about 30%. Renal hypertrophy was
higher in diabetic controls and bitter gourd supplementation, partially, Sigma Co., St. Louis, MO., USA. GOD/POD kits were pur-
but effectively prevented it (38%) during diabetes. Increased glomeru- chased from Span Diagnostics Limited, Surat, India. Fresh
lar filtration rate in diabetes was significantly reduced (27%) by bitter bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) procured from the lo-
gourd. An amelioration of about 30% in fasting blood glucose was ob- cal market was cleaned and the edible portion (devoid of
served with bitter gourd feeding in diabetic rats. These results clearly
seeds) was air dried in an oven maintained at 37–40 ◦ C and
provided experimental evidence that dried bitter gourd powder in the diet
at 10% level improved diabetic status signifying its beneficial effect during powdered. Bitter gourd in powder form was incorporated at
diabetes. 10% level at the expense of an equivalent amount of corn
starch in AIN-76 basal diet containing 63.5% corn starch,
Key words: Bitter gourd, Diabetes, Fasting blood glucose, Glomerular 20% protein, 10% fat, 3.5% AIN-76 mineral mix, 1% AIN-
filtration rate, Urine sugar
76 vitamin mix and 0.2% choline chloride and stored at 4 ◦ C
Abbreviations: BFC: Bitter gourd fed control; BFD: Bitter gourd fed [9]. Refined groundnut oil obtained from the local market
diabetic; GFR: Glomerular filtration rate; SFC: Starch fed control; SFD: was used as a source of fat. All other chemicals used were
Starch fed diabetic. of analytical grade.
Study had the approval of Institutional Animal Ethical
Committee. Male Wistar rats (120–130 g) were rendered
Introduction diabetic by a single i.p injection of streptozotocin (55 mg/kg
body weight) in freshly prepared citrate buffer (pH 4.5,
Bitter gourd or karela or bitter melon (Momordica cha- 0.1 M). Two groups of diabetic rats (12 rats/group) and
rantia), member of Cucurbitaceae family is a commonly two groups of age matched normal rats (6 rats/group) were
consumed vegetable in India, and some of the clinical tri- maintained with AIN-76 basal diet [9]. The control groups
als have reported potential benefits during diabetes [1–5]. received starch containing diet (SFC/SFD) and the experi-
However, most of these studies were with inadequacies in mental group (BFC/BFD) received bitter gourd during the
their study design. In some cases, fresh aqueous extract of entire course of the experiment and the diets were in powder
whole fruit appeared to be more effective than dried powder form. The animals had free access to water and diet, which
or dietary consumption as a vegetable [6, 7]. Also, contra- was in powder form.
dictory claims have been reported on the hypoglycaemic Blood was collected in tubes containing heparin (20 U/ml
effects of bitter gourd and data are not conclusive to recom- of blood), either from retro-orbital plexus during the exper-
mend its use in the management of diabetes. Since most of iment or from the heart at the time of sacrificing the rats
the studies pertained to the effect of specific parts of bitter (under ether anesthesia) after overnight fasting to measure
fasting blood glucose by glucose oxidase method [10] using
gourd with single dose or short term, there is a scope to
commercially available kit. Urine was collected by keeping
understand the valuable effect of bitter gourd fruit which is rats in metabolic cages under a layer of toluene for a period
rich in dietary fibre during diabetes. It is well known that of 24 h. The content of reducing sugar present in urine was
dietary fibre rich diets are beneficial in the management of measured by 3,5-dintro salicylic acid method [11]. Crea-
diabetes. The dietary fibers are known to differ from source tinine [12] was estimated by Folin’s method in blood and
to source in terms of their chemical nature, functionality urine (24 h collection). Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was
110
determined [13] using the formula,

GFR (ml/min)
Urinary Creatinine (mg/dl) × Urine volume (ml) × 1000 (g)
=
Plasma creatinine (mg/dl) × Body weight (g) × 1440 (min)

Results are expressed as mean values ± SEM. Differ-

ences in mean values were analyzed using Student t-test
and ANOVA. Significance is defined as p < 0.05.

Results

Type I diabetes was induced in male Wistar rats using strep-

tozotocin. The rats were sacrificed when mortality was
about to set in, which was about 45 days and mortality
started initially in starch fed diabetic group. At the time of
sacrificing the rats, seven rats were surviving in SFD and Figure 1. Effect of bitter gourd on urine volume in control and diabetic
BFD groups. Water intake is a characteristic symptom of rats. Abbreviations as in Table 1.
diabetes. Water consumption increased in diabetic group
and bitter gourd incorporation in the diet showed signif-
icant reduction in water intake during diabetes (Table 1). creted between 6.3–8.5 g of reducing sugar/day (Figure 2),
Diabetic rats (SFD) showed polyphagic condition and con- where as bitter gourd fed diabetic rats excreted 3.0–4.2 g
sumed higher quantity of diet compared to control (Table 1). during the course of the experiment. Significant improve-
Higher consumption of diet was observed in both the normal ment of about 35% reduction in urine sugar excretion was
and diabetic rats fed with bitter gourd compared to starch observed by feeding bitter gourd during the experimental
fed control. Body weight was monitored (Table 1) and con- period. Renal hypertrophy was assessed as the ratio between
trol rats (SFC and BFC) gained weight over a period of time. the kidney weights per 100 g body weight (Table 2). During
There was a marginal increase in the body weight in bitter diabetes, the kidney weight nearly doubled indicating renal
gourd fed diabetic group (BFD), while there was hardly any hypertrophy. Supplementation with bitter gourd prevented
increase in the body weight in diabetic control (SFD). This the hypertrophy partially, yet significantly by about 25%.
was statistically not significant. Excretion of urine was mon- Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was significantly higher
itored weekly. The polyuria condition prevailed in starch in diabetic controls in comparison to the control rats. Sig-
fed diabetic group (SFD) and was 75–85 ml/day all along nificant reduction (27%) in GFR was observed during di-
the experiment (Figure 1). Bitter gourd incorporation in the abetes by incorporating bitter gourd in the diet. The con-
diet showed significant reduction in urine excretion during trol rats, both starch fed control (SFC) and bitter gourd fed
diabetes. Excretion of urine sugar was monitored weekly. control (BFC) had fasting blood glucose of 100–110 mg/dl
Normal rats (SFC/BFC) excreted reducing sugar in mil- (Figure 3). At the end of the experiment, starch fed diabetic
ligram quantities. The starch fed diabetic (SFD) rats ex- (SFD) rats had fasting blood glucose of 343.8 mg/dl. About

Table 1. Effect of bitter gourd on water intake, diet intake and body weight in control and diabetic rats

Body weight (g)

Group Water intake (ml/24 h) Diet intake (g) Initial Final Gain in weight

SFC 29.90 ± 1.4 12.58 ± 0.44 126.0 ± 5.2 237.3 ± 5.5 111.3 ± 4.9
SFD 89.84 ± 4.4a 17.46 ± 0.55a 123.7 ± 2.6 127.3 ± 2.6a 3.6 ± 1.9a
BFC 27.60 ± 1.3 15.74 ± 0.36 124.8 ± 4.9 239.0 ± 7.6 114.2 ± 5.7
BFD 56.96 ± 2.3b 16.42 ± 0.25 (NS) 127.0 ± 2.0 150.8 ± 11.5 (NS) 23.8 ± 12.7 (NS)

Note. SFC: Starch fed control, BFC: bitter gourd fed control, SFD: starch fed diabetic, BFD: bitter gourd fed diabetic,
NS: Not significant statistically when compared to SFD ( p < 0.05).
Values are Mean ± SEM of six rats in control and seven rats in diabetic groups.
a Statistically significant when compared to SFC ( p < 0.05).
b Statistically significant when compared to SFD ( p < 0.05).
 111
Table 2. Effect of bitter gourd on kidney weight and glomeru-
lar filtration rate in control and diabetic rats

Kidney weight Glomerular filtration

Group (g/100 g) rate (ml/min)

SFC 0.63 ± 0.01 1.17± 0.17

SFD 1.27 ± 0.08a 5.90 ±0.55a
BFC 0.59 ± 0.01 1.16 ±0.14
BFD 1.03 ±0.06b 4.32 ±0.32b

Note. Abbreviations as in Table 1.

in preventing polyuria and polydepsia conditions during di-

abetes. Similar trend in the excretion of urine sugar was
followed in starch fed diabetic group, which was consistent
with earlier studies [16, 17]. Bitter gourd supplementation
prevented further excretion of sugar during diabetes. Kid-
Figure 2. Effect of bitter gourd on urine sugar in control and diabetic rats. ney enlargement is an early feature in both experimental and
Abbreviations as in Table 1.
human diabetes due to an increase in the capillary length and
diameter and was correlated with the degree of glycaemic
30% reduction in fasting blood glucose level was observed control [18]. We observed partial yet significant reduction
by supplementing bitter gourd in the diet. in the kidney weight with bitter gourd supplementation.
Hyperfunctional kidney with increase in GFR is reported
in the early stages of diabetes [19]. Long term metabolic
Discussion control is known to reduce kidney filtration in human dia-
betic subjects [20]. In our study, GFR increased consider-
Contradictory observations have been reported on the hypo- ably in starch fed diabetic group. Bitter gourd feeding to
glycaemic effect of bitter gourd. Our results clearly demon- diabetic rats showed significant reduction in kidney filtra-
strated that dry bitter gourd given at 10% level in the diet tion. Our earlier studies with dietary fibre (guar gum) have
improved the diabetic status. The earlier studies had shown shown significant improvements in GFR during diabetes
that rise in body weight in the diabetic rats was minimum [16].
compared to well-controlled diabetic rats [14]. Higher con- The beneficial effect of dried bitter gourd powder could
sumption of diet was observed in bitter gourd fed control be attributed to its high fibre content (48%; 31% (insoluble)
and diabetic rats and could be attributed to the high fibre and 17% (soluble)) or it could be due to its bioactive com-
content of bitter gourd (48% fibre). Dietary fibre rich foods ponents. It is well known that dietary fibres facilitate slow
are known to be consumed in higher amounts, which may be absorption of glucose along the passage through gastro-
due to better palatability [15, 16]. Bitter gourd was effective intestinal tract [21, 22]. The role of fermentation product
of dietary fibres in the form of short chain fatty acids such
as acetate, propionate and butyrate is also to be consid-
ered in the amelioration of diabetic status [23]. Our earlier
studies showed beneficial effects of butyric acid during dia-
betes [17]. Akhtar et al. [26] have reported hypoglycaemic
effect with dried bitter gourd powder at 1.0 and 1.5 g/kg
body weight in alloxan diabetic rabbits and lower dosages
had no effect. Karunanayeke et al. [6] have reported the in-
sulin secretogouge effect of bitter gourd. Khanna et al. [27]
have reported hypoglycaemic activity of polypeptide-p and
Baldwa et al. [24] has reported plant insulin from bitter
gourd. In some of the studies, fresh aqueous extract of the
fruit appears to be more effective compared to dried bitter
gourd during diabetes [6, 7]. However bitter gourd juice
cannot be consumed in large quantities because of the bitter
taste of the juice. Shibib et al. [25] reported that the hy-
Figure 3. Effect of bitter gourd on fasting blood glucose in control and poglycaemic effect of bitter gourd is due to suppression of
diabetic rats. Abbreviations as in Table 1. key gluconeogenic enzymes such as glucose-6-phosphatase
112
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Knapka JJ (1997) Report of the American Institute of Nutrition Ad-
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