Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Momordica charantia is a tropical vine bearing edible fruit which is among the most bitter of all vegetables. Several reports indicate that the extracts obtained from the fruits of M. charantia have significant wound healing activity and antidiabetic property. Aqueous extract is routinely used as traditional medicine to treat various ailments. In this report, the effect of aqueous extract of the seed and outer layer of the fruits of M. charantia on wound healing of albino rats is presented. Wounded albino rats treated with seed and outer layer extracts recovered faster than the untreated control animals. After 4 days, there was 20% reduction of the wound area on control animals while 45.75% and 47.5% reduction noticed on animals treated with seed and outer layer of the fruits of M. charantia, respectively. Further, animals treated with extracts showed significant increase in protein, hydroxyproline, hexosamine and uronic acid contents compared with respective controls. These data permit the observation that the extracts of M. charantia promote wound healing in animal model and indicated that the outer layer extract of M. charantia has potential use to treat different types of wounds in human beings too. Keywords: Momordica charantia, hydroxyproline, hexosamine, Uronic acid, wound contraction, Rat model