ABSTRACT
Momordica charantia is one of the plants commonly used among the rural dwellers in Northern Nigeria for the treatment of high blood sugar. It is also used as abortifacient for birth control, antilipedemia for the control of obesity and antivirus for the treatment of viral infections. It is also used as anti diarrheal remedy and other abdominal problems. The study became necessary because the rural dwellers in Northern Nigeria abuse the use of this plant. Evaluations of effects of methanolic extract of Momordica charantia on kidney, liver, haematology and biochemical parameters of adult albino rats were conducted. In this study twenty adult male rats of mean weight of 270 �30 gram were used. The animals were grouped into a control group A and treatment groups; B, C and D. LD50 was determined to be 1855 mg. The first group of animals having 5 rats (group A) which served as the control was administered orally with distilled water, second group (group B) administered orally with 125 mg/kg body weight, third group (group C) was administered with 250 mg/kg body weight and group D was administered orally with 500 mg/kg body weight. The treatment was for six weeks, weights of the rats were recorded weekly. Haematological and biochemical parameters were determined using standard procedures. The haematology revealed that, there was elevation of white blood cells (WBC), increased eosinophils, lymphocytes and neutrophils. The biochemical analysis revealed that there was xv increased creatinine levels and increased aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) among the groups treated with the methanolic extract of Momordica charantia. The histo-morphology of the kidney revealed that, there was necrosis of renal tubular cells, congested intertubular spaces and mononuclear cellular infiltration. The histo-morphology of the liver revealed that, there was vacuolation of hepatocytes; focal areas of necrosis, dilated sinusoids with some areas of haemorrhage. The results of this study indicated that, extract of Momordica charantia was found to produce mild to severe effects on the rats depending on the dose of the extract administered. Therefore, prolonged administration of the extract of this plant as commonly practiced by the rural dwellers of Northern Nigeria should be discouraged.