EFSA Compendium of Botanicals

Draft - work in progress

Balsam pear leaves // Momordica charantia L.

Family:: Cucurbitaceae
Approval state:: Approved
Number of articles retrieved:: 6164
Number of processed references:: 3

Compositions

#1: coumarins in fruit #2: alkaloids in fruit

Endpoint Studies

Genotoxicity

#1: the decoction from M. charantia leaves was genotoxic in the Aspergillus nidulans somatic segregation assay #2: DNA damage in human lymphocytes

Composition #1: Khatib, A., Perumal, V., Ahmed, Q. S., Uzir, B. F., Murugesu, S. Low inhibition of alpha-glucosidase and xanthine oxidase activities of ethanol extract of Momordica charantia fruit. journal of pharmaceutical negative results, 2017, vol. 8, no. 1, p. 20–24. DOI: 10.4103/0976-9234.204906. [DOI link]

Language:

English (en)
Plant part:

Fruit unspecified (as part-nature) (A067D)
Extraction/Preparation method:

Solvent extraction (A0BZR)
Additional extraction description:

Water / Ethanol
Substance:

coumarins (RF-00004351-PAR)
Analytical method code:

Phytochemical screening (F604A)
Yes/No Qualitative:

Positive/Present (POS)
Result type:

Qualitative Value (Binary) (BIN)
Internal remarks:

coumarins in fruit

Composition #2: Khatib, A., Perumal, V., Ahmed, Q. S., Uzir, B. F., Murugesu, S. Low inhibition of alpha-glucosidase and xanthine oxidase activities of ethanol extract of Momordica charantia fruit. journal of pharmaceutical negative results, 2017, vol. 8, no. 1, p. 20–24. DOI: 10.4103/0976-9234.204906. [DOI link]

Language:

English (en)
Plant part:

Fruit unspecified (as part-nature) (A067D)
Extraction/Preparation method:

Solvent extraction (A0BZR)
Additional extraction description:

Water / Ethanol
Substance:

Alkaloids (RF-00004360-PAR)
Analytical method code:

Phytochemical screening (F604A)
Yes/No Qualitative:

Positive/Present (POS)
Result type:

Qualitative Value (Binary) (BIN)
Internal remarks:

alkaloids in fruit

Genotox #1: Ruiz, AR., delaTorre, RA., Alonso, N., Villaescusa, A., Betancourt, J., Vizoso, A. Screening of medicinal plants for induction of somatic segregation activity in Aspergillus nidulans. journal of ethnopharmacology, 1996, vol. 52, no. 3, p. 123–127. DOI: 10.1016/0378-8741(96)01394-3. [DOI link]

Study category:

Genotoxicity
Type of toxicological test:

in vitro (CHD061TT)
Method type:

in vitro
Tested organism:

Other (A07XE)
Strain of test organism:

Strain P Aspergillus nidulans (CHD119ST)
Sex:

No data
Exogenous metabolic activation applied:

no data
Control groups used:

yes
Is genotoxic:

Ambiguous
Remarks on genotox study:

the aqueous extract of Momordica charantia induced a statistical significant increase in the frequency of segregant sectors per colony, and consequently, a genotoxic effect is postulated
Internal remarks:

the decoction from M. charantia leaves was genotoxic in the Aspergillus nidulans somatic segregation assay
Internal ID:

WOS:A1996UN40100001

Genotox #2: Basaran, AA., Yu, TW., Plewa, MJ., Anderson, D. An investigation of some turkish herbal medicines in Salmonella typhimurium and in the COMET assay in human lymphocytes. teratogenesis carcinogenesis and mutagenesis, 1996, vol. 16, no. 2, p. 125–138. DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1520-6866(1996)16:2<125::AID-TCM6>3.0.CO;2-K. [DOI link]

Study category:

Genotoxicity
Type of toxicological test:

DNA damage and repair assay, unscheduled DNA synthesis in mammalian cells in vitro (CHD038TT)
Method type:

in vitro
Tested organism:

Human (as organism) (A056J)
Strain of test organism:

lymphocytes (CHD036ST)
Sex:

No data
Exogenous metabolic activation applied:

no data
Control groups used:

yes
Endpoint measured:

DNA damage and/or repair
Is genotoxic:

Positive
Remarks on genotox study:

an increased activity in the COMET assay in human lymphocytes when compared with the negative control values, suggesting that they produce DNA damage by strand breakage.
Internal remarks:

DNA damage in human lymphocytes
Internal ID:

WOS:A1996VE89800006