Asian Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology

The climber Momordica charantia L., sometimes known as the bitter gourd, is a member of the Cucurbitaceae family and is grown extensively in tropical and subtropical areas for its therapeutic and nutritional benefits. Its fruits, leaves, and seeds have long been employed in ethnomedicine to treat inflammatory conditions, infections, and diabetes. The purpose of this work was to use the agar well diffusion method to assess the antibacterial activity of M. charantia peel extracts, both methanolic and ethanolic, against Escherichia coli. After being standardized using the McFarland standard, bacterial cultures were examined against a range of peel extract concentrations, from 500 to 31.25µg/ml. The negative control was dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), while the positive control was amoxicillin. Both methanolic and ethanolic peel extracts had modest, concentration-dependent antibacterial activity against E. coli, according to the data. T4M and T5M exhibited relatively greater inhibitory effects among the methanolic extracts at 500µg/ml, whereas T3M and T4M exhibited moderate activity at 250µg/ml. Overall, the antibacterial activity of ethanolic extracts was lower, and only at the highest tested dose did T4E exhibit the maximal zone of inhibition. At lower doses, neither solvent extract showed any inhibitory effects. The conventional antibiotic amoxicillin, on the other hand, had much greater zones of inhibition, demonstrating its higher antibacterial activity. Although their efficacy is far lower than that of traditional antibiotics, the results imply that the peel of M. charantia contains bioactive components with antibacterial potential. To improve antibacterial activity and investigate the therapeutic usefulness of M. charantia peel extracts, more research comprising purification, active ingredient discovery, and mechanistic assessment is required. The goal of the study was to determine which solvent-methanol or ethanol-is better at removing antibacterial phytoconstituents from Momordica charantia peel and to evaluate the concentration-dependent activity of the extracts.