Della famiglia delle Cucurbitacee, pianta erbacea, annuale. Frutto, foglie e semi altamente nutrienti, contengono fosforo, ferro, calcio, vitamine A, B e C, β-carotene e potassio.
Impiegate nella medicina Ayurvedica, le piante di Momordica sono ricche di principi attivi quali: triterpenoidi, glicosidi triterpenici, acidi fenolici, flavonoidi, olii essenziali, saponine, acidi grassi e proteine. L’attività biologica viene espletata da un’ampia varietà di molecole tra cui spiccano soprattutto: la Kuguacina J, la Charantina, l’acido α-eleostearico, la momorcharina, l’RNasi e la proteina MAP30. Le sostanze con attività ipoglicemizzante sono un mix di saponine steroidali note come charantine, peptidi insulino-simili e alcaloidi, tutti questi attivi sono concentrati all’interno dei frutti.
[solomedici]
Alcuni studi pubblicati in letteratura hanno evidenziato le potenzialità anti-infiammatorie e le proprietà anti-proliferative/pro-apoptotiche di questa pianta in vitro e in vivo, in particolare:
- effetto inibitorio su cellule staminali di cancro al colon (Kwatra D. et al., “Methanolic extracts of bitter melon inhibit colon cancer stem cells by affecting energy homeostasis and autophagy” Evid Based Complement Alternat Med, 2013, 2013: 702869)
- azione anti-infiammatoria (Dandawate P.R. et al., “Bitter melon: a panacea for inflammation and cancer” Chinese Journal of Natural Medicines, 2016, 14(2): 0081-0100 – Lu K.H. et al., “Wild bitter gourd protects against alcoholic fatty liver in mice by attenuating oxidative stress and inflammatory responses” Food Funct, 2014, 5(5): 1027-1037)
- ruolo nell’inibizione dell’obesità (Xu J. et al., “Bitter gourd inhibits the development of obesity-associated fatty liver in C57BL/6 mice fed a high-fat diet” J Nutr, 2014, 144(4): 475-483 – Bao B. et al., “Momordica charantia (Bitter Melon) reduces obesity-associated macrophage and mast cell infiltration as well as inflammatory cytokine expression in adipose tissues” PLoS One, 2013, 8(12): e84075)
- effetto pro-apoptotico sulle cellule cancerose (Weng J.R. et al., “Cucurbitane Triterpenoid from Momordica charantia Induces Apoptosis and Autophagy in Breast Cancer Cells, in Part, through Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor γ Activation” Evid Based Complement Alternat Med, 2013, 2013: 935675 – Fang E.F. et al., “Momordica charantia Extract Induces Apoptosis in Human Cancer Cells through Caspase- and Mitochondria-Dependent Pathways” Apoptosis, 2012, 17(4): 377-387 – Kaur M. et al., “Bitter melon juice activates cellular energy sensor AMP-activated protein kinase causing apoptotic death of human pancreatic carcinoma cells” Carcinogenesis, 2013, 34(7): 1585-1592 – Fang E.F. et al., “The MAP30 protein from bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) seeds promotes apoptosis in liver cancer cells in vitro and in vivo” Cancer Lett, 2012, 324(1): 66-74 – Fang E.F. et al., “In vitro and in vivo anticarcinogenic effects of RNase MC2, a ribonuclease isolated from dietary bitter gourd, toward human liver cancer cells” Int J Biochem Cell Biol, 2012, 44(8): 1351-1360)
Forma farmaceutica: CAPSULE da 100 a 150 mg (Momordica Charantia tit. 10%)
Altre referenze:
- Nkambo W. et al., “In vivo hypoglycemic effect of methanolic fruit extract of Momordica charantia L” Afr Health Sci, 2013, 13(4): 933-939
- Malik Z.A.et al., “Neuroprotective effect of Momordica charantia in global cerebral ischemia and reperfusion induced neuronal damage in diabetic mice” J Ethnopharmacol, 2011, 133(2): 729-734
- Grossmann M.E. et al., “Eleostearic acid inhibits breast cancer proliferation by means of an oxidation-dependent mechanism“ Cancer Prev Res (Phila), 2009, 2(10): 879-886
- Pitchakarn P. et al., “Induction of G1 arrest and apoptosis in androgen-dependent human prostate cancer by Kuguacin J, a triterpenoid from Momordica charantia leaf” Cancer Lett, 2011, 306(2): 142-150
- Pitchakarn P. et al., “Momordica charantia leaf extract suppresses rat prostate cancer progression in vitro and in vivo” Cancer Sci, 2010, 101(10): 2234-2240.
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