title: Embryotoxicity in vitro with extract of Indigofera suffruticosa leaves.
abstract: Aqueous extract of leaves of Indigofera suffruticosa (AELIs) were studied for adverse effects in preimplantation mouse embryos. Two-cell mouse embryos were cultured for 94 h in human tubal fluid medium (HTF), and AELIs at a concentration of 5 or 10 mg/ml. On Day 4 of culture, morulae and blastocysts were collected for morphological analysis of blastomeres. We found that embryos exposed to the higher concentration of AELIs (10 mg/ml) did not develop and all embryos persisted at the two-cell stage. Those embryos exposed to the lower concentration (5 mg/ml) showed development until morula, blastocyst and hatched blastocyst stages that were similar to the controls. These results suggest that use of AELIs may be hazardous to humans who make use of it in folk medicine.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Cultura de Células II, Departamento de Histologia e Embriologia do Centro de Ciências Biológicas da, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Cidade Universitária, Recife 50, 670-420 Pernambuco, Brazil. spl@ufpe.br
authors.forename: Sônia Pereira
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Leite
authors.forename: Paloma Lys
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: de Medeiros
authors.forename: Eliete Cavalcanti
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.forename: Maria Bernadete
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: de Souza Maia
authors.forename: Vera Lúcia
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: de Menezes Lima
authors.forename: Daniel Eduardo
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Saul
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D029883:Indigofera; D051379:Mice; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000187:drug effects; D009028:Morula / Q000187:drug effects*; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000633:toxicity*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000633:toxicity*; D011247:Pregnancy
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts