Preliminary Phytochemical and Antifertility Studies on Dodonea viscosa Linn

R. Ramya*, R. Sivasakthi, C. Senthilkumar, J. Anudeepa, N. Santhi and R. Venkata Narayanan

RVS College of pharmaceutical Sciences, sulur, Coimbatore ,Tamil nadu, India.

*Corresponding Author E-mail: sivasakthimpharm@gmail.com

ABSTRACT:

The practice of traditional medicine for the control of fertility in most parts of Ethiopia is based on the uses of plant medicines for many years. The fact that the herbal medicines have been employed for such a long time does not guarantee their efficacy and safety. The aim of the present study was therefore to carry out phytochemical screening, efficacy and safety studies on one of the traditionally used anti- fertility plants: Dodonea viscose Linn. The secondary metabolites of the leaves of this plant were determined. The methanolic extract of the leaves of this plant were investigated for their anti-fertility activity in female rats. The identification of the secondary metabolites showed that the leaves of the plant contained alkaloids, phytosterols and polyphenols. It was found that the extract reduced significantly (p< 0.01) the number of liters and administered through oral route. It also produced ant fertility effect in a dose dependent manner and the contraceptive effect was manifested for a definite period of time. Furthermore, the extract prolonged significantly the anti-implantation and early abortifacient activity. All these observations suggest that the extract has antifertility activity and is safe at the effective anti-fertility doses employed in this study.

KEYWORDS: Anti-fertility; Female Albino rats.

INTRODUCTION:

Dodonea viscose Linn (Sapindaceae) is an erect perennial shrub found throughout the hotter parts of India and Nepal. It is used for various medicinal purposes such as liver disorders, diuretic, abortifacient and antifertility agents. Various parts of this plant are being used in the traditional systems of medicine for contraceptive effect.

However there were no reports on both ethno botanical and pharmacological profile of this plant. Hence the present study was made to evaluate the anti-fertility effect.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

PLANT EXTRACT AND STANDARD USED:

The dried plant materials were pulverized by a mechanical grinder, sieved through 40 mesh. The powdered materials were extracted with methanol using soxhlet extraction apparatus. This methanol extract was then concentrated and dried under reduced pressure. The methanol free semisolid mass thus obtained was used for the experiment.

ANIMALS USED:

Wister Albino rats (150-200gms) were selected for these studies. Six rats were taken for each group. The rats were used after an acclimatization period of 7 days to the laboratory environment. They were provided with food and water.

ANTI-FERTILITY MODEL:

The female rats were grouped in to ten animals each. The first group of animals received 250 mg/kg body weight of methanolic extract of Dodonea viscose linn leaves. The rats in the second group served as control and received the 0.5%w/v of Carboxy methyl cellulose. The treatment of drugs was such that the animals were allowed for mating, after continuous administration of drugs for seven days and during which period they were all in estrous stage. The mating was allowed by placing the treated female rats with untreated male rats in its cages. The following day the mating was confirmed by the presence of sperms in the vaginal smear.

The female rats which showed a positive mating with the result of sperm positive were further treated with same dose levels of the respective drugs for another five days. The pregnancy starts from the day of mating and the next day was taken as day 1 of pregnancy. The pregnancy was confirmed by the continuous diestrous stage of the female rats. The pregnant rats were segregated and separately housed in cages. A weekly examination was observed for its weight variation.

FIGURE:1- PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING THE FOETUS , OVARY AND UTERUS IN ALBINO RATS

FIGURE :2-PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS THE ANTI FERTILITY ACTIVITY IN TREATED ALBINO

MEASUREMENT OF ABORTIFACIENT EFFECT:

On 10^Thday of pregnancy, the treated rats were dissected under light ether anaesthesia to observe the number of implantations, the number of corpus luteum in the ovary and the number of resorptions were recorded in Table – 1. The incision was closed under aseptic conditions. It was shown in Figure-1. On 20^th day, the animal was once again anaesthetized and autopsied for the observations. The percentage of anti – implantation, early abortifacient, total ant-fertility data are given in Table no:2.

The early abortifacient and anti-implantation activities were calculated by the following formulae:

Number of resorptions

% Abortifacient activity = -------------------------------- x 100

Number of corpus luteum

Number of implantations

% Anti-implantation activity = 100 ----------------------x 100

Number of corpus luteum

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

The present studies revealed that the methanolic extract of Dodonea viscose Linn showed significant anti-fertility activity as evidenced by early abortifacient activity of the methanolic extract of Dodonea viscose Linn and control group were 27.63% and 0% respectively. The anti-implantation activity of methanolic extract of Dodonea viscose Linn and control group was 68.42% and 47.89% respectively. Hence, the total anti-fertility activity of the methanolic extract of Dodonea viscose Linn was 96.05%.These results are interpreted on the basis of the animals that showed complete anti – implantation and resorption when compared to the number of animals used in control group. Our studies confirmed that the anti-fertility activity of the methanolic extract of Dodonea viscose Linn leaves as evidenced by early abortifacient activity and anti-implantation activity. Further studies on anti-fertility in albino rats would be a beneficial research for social benefits.

TABLE :1- ANTI-FERTILITY, ANTI-IMPLANTATION AND EARLY ABORTIFACIENT ACTIVITY OF DODONEA VISCOSA LINN EXTRACT

Parameters		Group-I ( Drug treated )	Group-II ( Drug treated )
Animals used		10	10
Anti-implantation activity	No. of implantations	2,4,5,0,5,0,0,3,3,2	10,7,8,4,9,6,4,6,5,3
Anti-implantation activity	No. of corpus luteum	7,5,8,4,13,6,5,14,8,6	16,12,14,9,13,11,8,15,14,7
Early abortifacient activity	No. of resorbed implantation	1,2,3,2,4,1,2,2,3,1	--------------------------------
Early abortifacient activity	No. of corpus luteum	7,5,8,4,13,6,5,14,8,6	16,12,14,9,13,11,8,15,14,7

TABLE : 2- THE PERCENTAGE OF ANTI-IMPLANTATION, EARLY ABORTIFACIENT ACTIVITY OF DODONEA VISCOSE LINN EXTRACT

Percentage activity for	Group-I ( Drug treated )	Group–II (Control 0.5% CMC)
Anti-implantation	68.42%	47.89%
Early abortifacient activity	27.63%	0.0%
Total Anti-fertility	96.05%	47.98%

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Received on 18.07.2011 Accepted on 11.08.2011

Asian J. Res. Pharm. Sci. 1(3): July-Sept. 2011; Page 77-79