Effect of Maytenus ilicifolia Mart. on pregnant mice.
Maytenus ilicifolia Mart. is used in Brazilian herbal medicine particularly for stomach disorders, but it is also used, as in other parts of South America, for fertility control. To verify its potential as an abortifacient, the lyophilized hydroalcoholic extract of its leaves was administered orally at a dose of 1000 mg/kg/day to mice between the first and third day of pregnancy (DOP), between the forth and sixth DOP, or between the seventh and ninth DOP. The extract caused a pre-implantation embryonic loss, but it did not have an effect on implantation or organogenesis. Morphological alterations of the reproductive system, not an embryotoxic effect, were not found. Estrogenic activity of the extract, exhibited by an uterotrophic effect, suggests that it may be interfering with the uterine receptivity to the embryo.
Montanari
Tatiana
T
Departament of Morphological Sciences, Institute of Health Basic Sciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. t.montanari@bol.com.br
Bevilacqua
Estela
E
D000019:Abortifacient Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D000028:Abortion, Induced; D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000187:drug effects; D001938:Brazil; D010064:Embryo Implantation / Q000187:drug effects; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D029755:Maytenus; D051379:Mice; D010053:Ovary / Q000187:drug effects; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011247:Pregnancy; D014599:Uterus / Q000187:drug effects
D000019:Abortifacient Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts