Abstract
Medicinal plants contain physiologically active principles that over the years had been exploited in traditional medicine for the treatment of various ailments. The present study was undertaken to investigate the effects of ethanolic extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa calyx on rat reproductive hormones. The effects on the basal levels of estradiol, testosterone, prolactin and follicle stimulating hormone were conducted in experimental animals. H. sabdariffa calyx extract at a dose of 250 mg/kg produced minor effects on rat reproductive hormones, namely testosterone and estradiol while no change was observed on both prolactin and follicle stimulating hormone levels. Moreover, no histological changes were detected on both testes and ovaries of the experimental animals after 28 days of administration. It can be concluded that H. sabdariffa calyx extract at a dose of 250 mg/kg caused mild effects on rat reproductive hormones. Key words: Estrogenic effect, reproductive hormones, Hibiscus sabdariffa extract.
Highlights
Endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) are natural or synthetic compounds that have the ability within the body to alter endocrine functions often through mimicking or blocking endogenous hormones (James et al, 2013)
The study revealed that the ethanolic extract of H. sabdariffa calyx in a dose of 250 mg/kg exhibited a mild increase (p-value < 0.05) in estradiol level in female rats in time-dependent manner (Table 1)
Following intragastric administration of 250 mg/kg of ethanolic H. sabdariffa calyx extract for 28 days, serum levels of testosterone were significantly reduced
Summary
Endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) are natural or synthetic compounds that have the ability within the body to alter endocrine functions often through mimicking or blocking endogenous hormones (James et al, 2013). Responsive gene products, stimulation of estrogen receptor(s) and positive breast cancer cell growth (James et al, 2013) Through these interactions by acting as agonists or antagonists, EDCs are able to alter the activity of response elements of genes, block natural hormones from binding to their receptors, or in some cases increase the perceived amount of endogenous hormone in the body by acting as a hormone mimic to its receptor (Ze-hua et al, 2010).
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