Efeito de Momordica charantia I. Em camundongos infectados por Plasmodium berghei

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization malaria is one of the major public health problems in Brazil and all over developing countries, where 80% of the population use traditional medicine to solve their primary medical problems. Both treatment and control of this parasitosis have become difficult, because of parasite strains that are resistant to conventional drugs, such as chloroquine. That makes the search for new antimalarial drugs not only important but urgent. We aimed therefore at evaluating the effects of Momordica charantia L. (Cucurbitaceae) in mice infected with Plasmodium berghei. We used aquose and ethanotic extracts in a dose of 1000 mg/kg of body weight, orally, for five consecutive days (i.e. from day 2 to day 6 postinfection). We then followed up the parasitaemia during the course of infection. Although the population use this plant as an antimalarial, in our experimental conditions, M. charantia extracts have not shown such activity.

Antiprotozoal and cytotoxic screening of 45 plant extracts from Democratic Republic of Congo

“…Except Alchornea cordifolia leaves, Momordica charantia whole plant and Plumbago zeylanica for which some antiprotozoal activities were previously reported (Amorin et al, 1991;Ueno et al, 1996;Marshall et al, 2000;Muňoz et al, 2000;Simonsen et al, 2001;Banzouzi et al, 2002;Okpekon et al, 2004), this is the first report of the antiprotozoal activity of the remaining ethnobotanically selected medicinal plants.…”

Pharmacological actions and potential uses of Momordica charantia: a review

“…Munoz et al (2000) demonstrated moderate in vivo activity of MC extract against rodent malaria P. vinckei petteri 279. However, Amorim et al (1991) and Ueno et al (1996) did not observe in vitro antiplasmodial activity of ethanolic MC extract against P. berghei.…”

Plants of the American continent with antimalarial activity

“…So the 95% ethanol extract obtained from the dried seed of Cucurbita maxima popularly known as pumpkin strawberries was active in dose of 250 mg/kg against P. berghei infected mice (Amorim et al, 1991) and Momordica charantia, called as melon from São Caetano, had the aqueous and chloroform extracts obtained of the dried flowers or aerial parts inactive against P. berghei, P. gallinaceum, P. cathemerium and P. lophurae (Carvalho et al, 1991;Spencer et al, 1947), the 95% ethanol extract obtained Ingrid R. Mariath, Heloina de S. Falcão, José M. Barbosa-Filho, et al of the dried leaves in the dose of 500 mg/kg was also inactive against P. berghei infected mice (Amorim et al, 1991), while the infusion and 95% ethanol extract of the dried leaves and stem in dose of 1.0 g/kg were active against P. berghei infected human or mice (Ueno et al, 1996).…”