Abstract: The α-glucosidase activity, the oral glucose tolerance of normal and diabeteic mice, the contents of glycogen and insulin were respectively studied to find the hypoglycemic mechanism of saponins from Momordica charantia L. The results showed that the saponins have no α-glucosidase inhibition activity. But the saponins can lower the oral glucose tolerance of both normal and diabeteic mice and they also affect the glycogen of the normal and diabeteic mice. From these results we concluded that the hypoglycemic activity would stimulate the glycogen synthesizing. They significantly improve the oral glucose tolerance of both normal and diabeteic mice. This showed that the mechanism is a combination of recovering the β-cells activity in the islet and inhibiting glycogenic output of the mice.

Key words:  , Momordica charantia L.； hypoglycemic； mechanism；