Background: Several plants are traditionally used as birth control agents by the rural people in India. Mimosa pudica is one of the folk medicinal plants commonly used as antifertility agent in some places in India. The present work was carried out to evaluate the claimed antifertility effect of the plant by carrying out pharmacological studies with the root extract of the plant.
Study design: Air-dried roots of M. pudica were extracted using methanol. Dried methanol extract of the root was administered orally to Swiss albino mice for 21 consecutive days. Estrous cycle, reproductive hormones (LH, FSH, prolactin, estradiol and progesterone) and number of litters produced were studied in both control and extract-administered groups by using standard methods. Phytochemical studies of the methanolic root extract were carried out using qualitative and thin-layer chromatography methods.
Results: M. pudica root extract, when administered orally at a dose of 300 mg/kg body weight/day, prolonged the length of the estrous cycle with significant increase in the duration of the diestrous phase and reduced the number of litters in albino mice. The number of litters was increased in the posttreatment period. The analysis of the principal hormones (LH, FSH, prolactin, estradiol and progesterone) involved in the regulation of the estrous cycle showed that the root extract altered gonadotropin release and estradiol secretion.
Conclusions: The root extract of M. pudica has antifertility effect as it prolongs the estrous cycle and disturbs the secretion of gonadotropin hormones in albino mice. The decrease in FSH level in the proestrus and estrus stages in the extract-administered group compared with those of control animals indicates the disturbance of estrous cycle and ovulation through suppression of FSH.