LAUSR

Introduction: Male infertility has been associated with oxidative stress induced and or microbial induced in some men. The use of medicinal plants to overcome oxidative stress induced infertility cannot be over emphasized. Hence, the aim of this research is to isolate antlipid peroxidation (an index of usage in treatment of oxidative stress induced male infertility) bioactive principle from Momordica charantia using bioactivity-guided isolation. Materials and Methods: n-Hexane fraction from crude ethanol extract obtained by Soxhlet extraction of aerial parts (without fruit) of bitter melon, M. charantia was assessed for in vitro lipid peroxidation, followed by bioactivity-guided isolation of bioactive principle using in vitro lipid peroxidation as index of aphrodisiac as well as male fertility enhancer. Results: Fractionation of active nhexane fraction using vacuum liquid chromatography (VLC) gave five pooled fractions on the basis of their TLC characteristics (nhexane: EtOAc, 2:3, sulphuric acid spray). In vitro activity of the most active VLC fraction C was less than that of positive control, vitamin E. Further fractionation of VLC-C by open column chromatography on silica gel led to isolation of a compound which was purified by preparative-TLC. The purified compound, 10 mg/mL (Rf 0.54, TLC Silica gel, nhexane: ethyl acetate; 2:3) was equipotent with vitamin E (25 mg/mL) in reducing peroxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids in vitro. Structural elucidation by NMR (1H, 13C) and MS confirmed the identity of the new bioactive compound as 13, 14-epoxyoleanan-3-ol-acetate. Conclusion: This study scientifically validates traditional claim of M. charantia as an aphrodisiac or male fertility enhancer as well as suggest that 13, 14-epoxyoleanan-3-ol-acetate might be responsible for the observed activity.