Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the oldest known human disease currently affecting more than 200 million people worldwide. Diabetes mellitus is derived from two Greek words meaning siphon and sugar. In DM, patients have high blood level of glucose and this passes out with urine. This is because the endocrine pancreas does not produce either or not enough insulin or the insulin which is produced is not exerting its biochemical effect (or insulin resistance) effectively. Insulin is a major metabolic hormone which has numerous functions in the body and one main role is to stimulate glucose uptake into body’s cells where it is utilized to provide energy. The disease is classified into type 1 and type 2 DM. Type 1 DM develops when the insulin producing β cells have been destroyed and are unable to produce insulin. This is very common in children and is treated with insulin. Type 2 DM (T2DM) develops when the body is unable to produce an adequate amount of insulin or the insulin which is provided does not work efficiently. This is due to life style habits including unhealthy diet, obesity, lack of exercise and hereditary and environmental factors. Some symptoms of DM include excess urination, constant thirst, lethargy, weight loss, itching, decreased digestive enzyme secretion, slow wound healing and other related symptoms. If left untreated, DM can result in severe long-term complications such as kidney and heart failure, stroke, blindness, nerve damage, exocrine glands insufficiency and other forms of complications. T2DM can be treated and controlled by prescribed drugs, regular exercise, diet (including some plant-based food) and general change in life style habits. This review is concerned with the role of plant-based medicine to treat DM. One such plant is Momordica charantia which is grown in tropical countries worldwide and it has been used as a traditional herbal medicine for thousands of years although its origin in unknown. This review examines the medicinal chemistry and use(s) of M. charantia and its various extracts and compounds, their biochemical properties and how they act as anti-diabetic (hypoglycemic) drugs and the various mechanisms by which they exert their beneficial effects in controlling and treating DM.

A multitude of plants have been used extensively for the treatment of cancers throughout the world. The protein, α, β momorcharin has been extracted from the plant Momordica charantia (MC), and it possesses anti-cancer and anti-HIV properties similar to the crude water and methanol soluble extract of the plant. This study investigated the anti-cancer effects and the cellular mechanisms of action of α, β momocharin (200-800 μM) on 1321N1, Gos-3, U87-MG, Sk Mel, Corl-23 and Weri Rb-1 cancer cell lines compared to normal healthy L6 muscle cell line measuring cell viability using MTT assay kit, Caspase-3 and 9 activities, cytochrome c release and intracellular free calcium concentrations [Ca(2+)]i. The results show that α, β momorcharin can evoke significant dose-dependent (P < 0.05; Student's t test) decreases in the viability (increases in cell death) of 1321N1, Gos-3, U87-MG, Sk Mel, Corl-23 and Weri Rb-1 cancer cell lines compared to healthy L6 muscle cell line and untreated glioma cells. α, β momorcharin (800 μM) also evoked significant (P < 0.05) increases in caspase-3 and 9 activities and cytochrome c release. Similarly, α, β momorcharin elicited significant (P < 0.05) time-dependent elevation in [Ca(2+)]i in all five glioma cell lines compared to untreated cells. Together, the results have demonstrated that α, β momorcharin can exert its anti-cancer effect on different cancer cell lines by intracellular processes involving an insult to the mitochondria resulting in cellular calcium over loading, apoptosis, cytochrome release and subsequently, cell death.

A sensitive and fast UV spectrophotometric technique and feasible reverse phase liquid chromatographic method for the analysis of Brinzolamide and Brimonidine tartrate in ophthalmic formulation has been developed. Linearity ranges for both methods were 5 -25 ìg/ml and 1-5 ìg/ml for brinzolamide and brimonidine tartrate respectively. The absorption maxima were observed at 232 and 257 nm for Brinzolamide and Brimonidine. The UV, ophthalmic formulation assay shows percentage purity ranging from 98.90 to 101.01% for Brinzolamide and 98.20 to 100.80% for Brimonidine. The mean percentage purity is 99.82% and 99.80% for Brinzolamide and Brimonidine respectively. The chromatographic retention time for Brinzolamide and Brimonidine was found to be 5.9 and 8.4 minutes respectively. The tailing factor was 0.808 and 0.860 for Brinzolamide and Brimonidine tartrate respectively. The method was validated according to the ICH guidelines and the method was found to be applicable for determination of Brinzolamide and Brimonidine tartrate from combined ophthalmic form.

The Momordica charantia L., (family: Cucurbitaceae) is a scientific name of the plant and its fruit. It is also known by other names, for instance in the USA it is known as Bitter gourd or balsam pear while its referred to as the African cucumber in many African countries. This study was specifically designed to investigate the cellular mechanisms whereby alpha, beta momorcharin an extract of M. charantiacan induce cell death measuring the elevation in intracellular free calcium concentrations in three different cancer cell lines 1321N1, Gos-3 and U-87. The results show that incubation of the three cancer cell lines 1321N1, Gos-3 and U-87 with  α, β momorcharin can result in significant (p < 0.05) time-dependent increases in [Ca2+]i in all three cancer cell lines compared to control (untreated) cells. Maximal increases in [Ca2+]i was attained after 420 min of incubation.In control (untreated cell lines), [Ca2+]i remained more or less stable in both cell lines after 420 min. The results also show that the increase in [Ca2+]i in Gos-3 cell line was much more pronounced following incubation with α, β momorcharin compared to 1321N1 and U-87 cell line. The results show that incubation of the three cancer cell lines with  momorcharin can result in significant (p < 0.05) time-dependent increases in [Ca2+]i in all three cancer cell lines compared to control (untreated) cells. Maximal increases in [Ca2+]i was attained after 420 min of incubation. In control (untreated cell lines), [Ca2+]i remained more or less stable in all three cell lines after 420 min. These results clearly show that  α, β momorcharin extract of M. charantia is exerting its anti- cancer effect via an insult to the mitochondria resulting in apoptosis, calcium overloading and subsequently, cell death.

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