Momordica charantia Leaf Extract Attenuates Cyanide Toxicity by Enhancing Antioxidant, Anti-inflammatory and Cholinergic response in Rats’ Brain

Medicinal plants have been exploited over centuries for the management and treatment of diseases and as antidote against acute poisoning. Here, the antioxidant, anticholinergic and anti-inflammatory impacts of methanol extract of Mormodica charantia (MMC) leaf were investigated in the cortex and hippocampus of cyanide-intoxicated rats. Except for animals in control and potassium cyanide (KCN) groups that were orally administered distilled water and KCN, other groups were co-administered 0.4 mg/kg of freshly prepared KCN and varying dose (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) of MMC and 200 mg/kg thiosulphate. Animals were treated for 21 days and thereafter sacrificed for sample collections for biochemical and histopathological studies. Findings from this study revealed enhanced reversal of oxidative stress markers near normalcy in rats’ brain cortex and hippocampus. Acetylcholine esterase (AChE) and butyrylcholine esterase (BChE) activities were significantly reduced (p<0.05) in animals that were administered varying doses of MMC and thiosulphate relative to KCN untreated group. The level of hippocampal TNF–α and IL–6 significantly decreased (p<0.05) in MMC treated animals compared to KCN groups. Micromorphology section of both brain and hippocampus revealed improvement in MMC treatment as no degenerative changes was observed in these sections. This study has demonstrated that Mormodica charantia methanol extract is medicinally potent against cyanide toxicity and presumably contain lead compound that could be harnessed for the treatment of oxidative damage, inflammatory and neuronal responses in cyanide poisoning.