Myrianthus arboreus P. Beauv (Cecropiaceae) Extracts Accelerates Sexual Maturation, and Increases Fertility Index and Gestational Rate in Female Wistar Rats.

Charline Awounfack,Rosette Megnekou,Dieudonné Njamen,Marie Mvondo,Derek Tantoh Ndinteh,Stéphane Zingue,Sefirin Djiogue,Sylvin Ateba

doi:10.3390/medicines5030073

Abstract

Background: Despite the wide use of leaves of Myrianthus arboreus (Cecropiaceae) in several African countries including Cameroon as food and against amenorrhea and female infertility, it has never been tested for this purpose. Methods: Using immature female Wistar rats, the impact of M. arboreus on the sexual maturation parameters (vaginal opening, ovarian relative weight and follicle maturation, gonadotropins and ovarian hormones serum levels) and fertility index has been evaluated through a 30-day oral administration of aqueous and methanol extracts of leaves at the doses of 20, 110 and 200 g/kg/day. Results: Aqueous extract increased the ovarian relative weight (p < 0.001), progesterone (p < 0.001) and gonadotropins (p < 0.001) serum levels, and induced the maturation of ovarian follicles. The methanol extract additionally induced an early vaginal opening (p < 0.001), uterine growth (p < 0.01) and increased estradiol (p < 0.001) serum levels. The fertility index generally increased following treatments, while the gestation rate remained almost unaffected except at the highest tested dose of M. arboreus extracts where lowest values were observed. Conclusion: Globally, M. arboreus induced an early puberty onset and an increased fertility rate validating at least in part its traditional use for female infertility.

Highlights

Infertility, or the failure of getting pregnant after one year of regular and unprotected intercourse [1], is sometime devastating for couples as it is very often associated with psychological distress, low self-esteem, abuse, divorce, loss of respect from extended family and even the annulment of rights to burial grounds [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]
People increasingly seek alternatives such as plant-derived medicines thought to be safer and playing an important role in health care systems, especially in the developing world where up to 80% of the population rely on traditional medicine for their primary healthcare
These results strongly suggest the ovarian secretion of estrogen or the presence of estrogen-like compounds in the methanol extract

Summary

Introduction

Infertility, or the failure of getting pregnant after one year of regular and unprotected intercourse [1], is sometime devastating for couples as it is very often associated with psychological distress, low self-esteem, abuse, divorce, loss of respect from extended family and even the annulment of rights to burial grounds [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8] It affects 10–15% of the world population at the reproductive age [9,10], while the rates in parts of developing world could exceed 30% because of the higher burden of sexually transmitted infections/diseases, the unsafe abortion and postpartum pelvic infection [7,11,12,13,14]. Conclusion: Globally, M. arboreus induced an early puberty onset and an increased fertility rate validating at least in part its traditional use for female infertility

Methods

Results

Conclusion