Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Momordica charantia (Bitter Melon) in Adipose Tissue of Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet

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dc.contributor.advisorNerurkar, Pratibha
dc.contributor.authorSoares, Natasha
dc.contributor.departmentBioengineering
dc.date.accessioned2014-09-26T20:00:23Z
dc.date.available2014-09-26T20:00:23Z
dc.date.issued2014-09-26
dc.description.abstractAlternative therapies are of interest due to increasing incidences of chronic low-grade inflammatory diseases such as obesity. Momordica charantia (bitter melon, BM), has been demonstrated to reduce total body and adipose tissue weights in mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD). During obesity, elevated levels of monocyte chemo attractant protein-1 (MCP-1) recruit macrophages to infiltrate adipose tissues. Infiltrated macrophages mediate low-grade systemic and tissue-specific inflammation. We hypothesized that BM would reduce HFD-associated inflammation due to decreased plasma levels of MCP-1 found in mice fed HFD+BM. For 16 weeks, C57BL/6 male mice were treated with 1) control diet (4.8% fat), 2) control diet + BM (1.5% lyophilized powder, w/w), 3) HFD (58% fat), and 4) HFD + BM. Several inflammatory gene expressions from visceral adipose tissues were measured by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). Results suggest that BM reduced mRNA expression of macrophage infiltration (F4/80 and MCP-1), inflammatory (interleukin-1 beta, IL-1β, nuclear factor-kappaB1, NF-κB1, and toll-like receptor 4, TLR4), and adipose tissue differentiation (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma, PPARγ) markers. Overall, BM lowered adipose tissue inflammation in HFD-fed mice. Findings from this research could potentially be used to determine molecular targets of BM to alleviate obesity-induced inflammation. Such studies are important as they offer low-cost alternatives for developing countries and lower health-care costs for standard long-term care in developed countries. [Public Health Service grants (R21AT003719) National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, (G12 RR003061) Research Centers in Minority Institutions, and (2T34GM007684) Minority Access to Research Careers Program, NIH.]
dc.format.extentx, 42 pages
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10125/33656
dc.publisherUniversity of Hawaii at Manoa
dc.rightsAll UHM Honors Projects are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner.
dc.titleAnti-Inflammatory Effects of Momordica charantia (Bitter Melon) in Adipose Tissue of Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet
dc.typeTerm Project
dc.type.dcmiText

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