Phytochemical Profiling, Toxicity Study and Abortifacient Activity of Seed and Whole Plant of Momordica charantia Linn. (CUCURBITACEAE)

The objective of this study was to extract the seed and plant of Momordica charantia Linn. with methanol using soxhlet apparatus, phytochemically screen the methanol extracts using standard procedures, determine the acute toxicity of the methanol extracts of seeds and plant in Wistar strain rats by Lorke’s method and evaluate the abortifacient activity on adult nonpregnant albino rat in-vitro. The phytochemical screening of both the methanol seed and plant extracts revealed the presence of carbohydrates, terpenoids, cardiac glycosides, cardenolides and saponins for seed, while carbohydrates, terpenoids, cardiac glycosides, cardenolides, saponins and flavonoids were present in the plant extract. The intraperitoneal LD50 of seed and plant extracts were calculated to be 288 mg/kg and 714 mg/kg respectively. The abortifacient activity of Momordica charantia of both plant and seeds were investigated in induced contraction on the uterus in an organ bath setup. Oxytocin was used as a standard. The seed and plant extracts in a dose dependent manner induced contraction, the amplitude of contraction and percentage increase were independently significant (p<0.05). The result showed the synergistic activity between oxytocin and the plant extract. It may be concluded that the methanol seed and plant extracts of M. charantia induced uterine contraction, thus having abortifacient activity and this justifies this claim in traditional medicine.