Drug Designing: Open Access
Open Access
ISSN: 2169-0138
+44 1223 790975
ISSN: 2169-0138
+44 1223 790975
Ujjwal Kaushik1, M Ali2 and Vidhu Aeri2
Posters-Accepted Abstracts: Drug Des
Objective: The present study was designed to phytochemically investigate and to screen the under-utilized cucurbit vegetables viz.
Momordica balsamina, Coccinia indica and Trichosanthes dioica for their preventive effect against type-2 diabetes and to isolate the
moderately polar cucurbitane type triterpenoids responsible for the biological effect.
Materials & Methods: The fruits of Momordica balsamina and Coccinia indica were extracted with chloroform and fractionated
with hexane to create an extract rich in moderately polar components. These extracts rich in moderately polar components were
used for evaluating the preventive effect of these cucurbit vegetables in nicotinamide/streptozotocin induced type-2 diabetes. Mildly
diabetic animals were orally treated with chloroform extract of each fruits (250 mg/kg, BW) given daily for a week. Results and
discussion: Both the extracts reduced fasting blood glucose significantly (p<0.05% vs. diabetic control) when estimated on seventh
day of treatments. Pre-treatment with fruit extracts for seven days also blunted the OGTT curve and restricted the increment of
blood glucose to 25 mg/dl after one hour of glucose challenge. Moreover, the treatment with fruit extracts resulted in significant
improvement of lipid profile.
Conclusion: The phytochemical investigation focused on isolation and characterization of bioactive components revealed presence
of β-Sitosterol 3-β-D-glucopyranoside, β-Sitosterol α-D-triglucoside, Cucurbit-5, 7-dien-ol, Cucurbiten- 3-D-glucoside, Cucurbiten-
3β-ol-3-O-D-diglucosidic linolenate as main components. From the above results it was concluded that extract of fruits rich in
cucurbitane type triterpenoidal moieties in M. balsamina and C. indica fruits possess preventive effects on diabetic hyperglycemia,
hyperlipidemia and significant anti-diabetic potential.