Effect of Carica papaya seed extract on female rat ovaries and uteri

Abstract

The effect of an aqueous extract of Carica papaya seed for 7 and 15 days on the physiology of rat ovaries and uterus was studied. The possible reversibility of the induced effects was also investigated. The results revealed that the effects were more pronounced in the ovary than in the uterus. The changes in biochemical profile of the ovary and uterus involved alterations in the levels of ascorbic acid, ascorbigen (ASG), ascorbic acid utilization (AUU), ascorbic acid macromolecular (AA-MM) complexing, ascorbic acid free radical (AA-FR) formation, total ascorbic acid and glutathione (GSH), cholesterol, protein and glycogen. The increase in ascorbate turnover is an adaptation to overcome the harmful effect of the extract. The fertility test was 100% negative and the oestrus cycle was irregular with a predominance of dioestrus. The uterine contractility was increased. The above mentioned changes indicate that the extract manifested antifertility, antiimplantation and abortifacient effects in the treated animals. The withdrawal of treatment overcame the adverse effects of the treatment in ovary and the uterus and restored fertility.

Effects of crude extracts of Mucuna pruriens (Fabaceae) and Carica papaya (Caricaceae) against the protozoan fish parasite Ichthyophthirius multifiliis

“…Additionally, extracts of C. papaya have been reported to have antibacterial properties (Emeruwa 1982), and in some African countries extracts are used for the treatment of intestinal amoebiasis (Tona et al 1998). However, adverse effects of seeds or the aqueous extract of seeds of C. papaya on the fertility of rats have been reported by Chinoy et al (1995) and Udoh and Kehinde (1999). Biologically active compounds of C. papaya include tannins, papain, nicotine (Duke 1992), cyanogenic glucosides (Olafsdottir et al 2002), and quercetin and its glycosides (Tona et al 1998).…”

Phytochemicals of papaya and its traditional health and culinary uses – A review

“…The alkaloids, steroids, triterpenoids and flavonoids present in the seed of papaya may be responsible for the male contraceptive effectiveness. Apart from the effect on male rats, papaya seed extract has also been shown to manifest antifertility, antiimplantation and abortifacient activity in female rats (Adebiyi et al, 2003;Chinoy et al, 1995). The seed was toxic to uterine tissues and resulted in spontaneous contraction (Adebiyi et al, 2003).…”

Reversible Antifertility Effect of Cassia tora Linn in Male Rats

“…Protein level is directly correlated with the secretory activity of the epididymis, which in turn depends on the androgen levels [50][51] . The low levels of testicular protein are usually indicative of inhibition of spermatogenesis [52][53][54] . The decreased sialic acid level in testes and accessory organs of male rats and the epididymis can be a causative factor for impaired sperm function [39,[55][56] .…”

“…Fructose serves as source of energy for sperm, reduction in the fructose might be due to decreased secretory activity of seminal vesicle [59][60] . Sperm density and motility directly correlates with fertility chances and therefore decreased sperm density [50][51][52][53][54] and motility of spermatozoa might reduced fertility of rats followed extract treatment [61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70] . A large number of metaphasic cells in the germ epithelium of treated animals might be caused by cell cycle blockage or [46,71] arrest at the spermatid level in the form of degenerative changes in the germinal cells together with few fragmented sperms in the lumen and acquired a thick, irregular basement membrane [72][73][74] .…”