Reproductive toxicity and infertility effect of Ferula hormonis extracts in mice
Introduction
The anti-fertility activities of medicinal plants have been extensively investigated in mice [1] and rats [2], [3]. Several species of these plants were reported to have estrogenic activity [4] while few of them showed significant contraceptive properties [5], [6].
Phytoestrogens are novel estrogens found in variety of plants, which may be ingested directly or as constituents of tissues from animals that have ingested plants. Phytoestrogens have noxious effects, leading to impaired fertility in domestic animals as well as disturbance of the normal gestation process [3]. There are a number of phytoestrogenic plants likely to be consumed by humans, such as Ferula hormonis.
The toxic effect of Ferula in cattle is associated with hemorrhagic disease, probably due to their ferulenol, ferprenin, 4-hydroxylated, and prenylated coumarins [7].
The Moroccan F. communis variety brevifolia from which ferulenol has been extracted, was shown to cause coagulopathy by substantially reducing the activity of Vitamin K-dependent clotting factors without affecting platelet numbers, liver function or its structure [8]. The genus Ferula is chemically characterized by volatile oils, sesquiterpenes [9], sesquiterpene lactones [10], acetophenone derivatives [11], coumarins [12], acetylenes [4], and polysulfans [13], [14].
F. hormonis belongs to the family Umbelliferae. Recently, it has gained overwhelming popularity among many Jordanian people [15] and those from neighboring countries of the Middle East due to its potential as an anti-sterility treatment. However, the benefits of this plant were exaggerated. For example, the extracts of F. hormonis were used against frigidity and impotence, to enhance circulation, stimulate sexual desire, and to cure sexual disability. To our knowledge there has been no previous work conducted to evaluate the toxicity of this plant on the reproductive process. The present work represents an attempt to investigate the possible effect of F. hormonis extract on the fertility of mice.
Section snippets
Plant material extracts
The extraction was prepared according to the procedure described by Homady et al. [1] as follows: dried material of F. hormonis roots was obtained from a local market in Amman (Jordan) and pharmacognostically identified in our laboratory before use. The ethanolic extract was prepared by boiling the powdered material (500 g) in 97% ethanol (2 l) for 5 min and allowing it to stand for 2–3 h. It was then filtered and dried over MgSO4. To obtain a suspension the solvent was removed by evaporation at 30
Effect of ethanolic extract of F. hormonis on the fertility of male mice
One-way ANOVA (Table 1) Tukey’s t-test (Table 2, Table 3) revealed that the ability of male mice to mate was highly affected by exposure to the ethanolic extract of F. hormonis as compared with that of the control males. A significant decrease in the number of mated females was found and the average number of total implantations and number of live fetuses was significantly (P<0.0001) reduced in females impregnated by males which ingested ethanolic extract of F. hormonis as compared to the
Discussion
The aim of this study was to investigate the toxic effect on reproduction following 6 weeks treatment of both male and female mice with 3 mg/kg per day of ethanolic extracts of F. hormonis. The applied concentration of 3 mg/kg per day of F. hormonis was found to be the minimum effective dosage in mice [18].
In the present study, the mating ability of the male mice was significantly decreased by exposure to F. hormonis extract (Table 3). There was a significantly high proportion of females without
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by a grant from the Deanship of Scientific Research, Mu’tah University, Al-Karak, Jordan. The authors would like to thank Mr. Amjad A. Al-Tarawneh for his technical assistance.
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2012, Biochemical Systematics and EcologyCitation Excerpt :Previous phytochemical investigations on F. hermonis, roots and seeds, revealed the presence of various sesquiterpenes, mainly of the daucane type (Diab et al., 2001a,b; Galal et al., 2001; Lhuillier et al., 2005; Abourashed et al., 2001; Auzi et al., 2008; Nazari and Iranshahi, 2010; Galal, 2000). Extensive research was done to study the hormonal activity of the isolated sesquiterpenes from F. hermonis and recently herbal products containing F. hermonis extract have been sold in the dietary supplement market claiming a sexual function enhancement (Abourashed et al., 2001; Appendino et al., 2002, 2004; Greige-Gerges et al., 2008; Khleifat et al., 2001; Homady et al., 2002; Ikeda et al., 2002; Zanoli et al., 2003, 2005a,b; Zavatti et al., 2006, 2009). Different activities were also reported, including anti-inflammatory (Geroushi et al., 2011), cytotoxic (Auzi et al., 2008; Elouzi et al., 2008).