University of Dschang, Faculty of Science, Department of Biochemistry, Cameroon.
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2012 Apr 6;12:36. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-12-36.
Senecio biafrae (Asteraceae) is a medicinal plant widely used by traditional healers in the western region of Cameroon for the treatment of female infertility. This experiment was designed to evaluate the effect of the aqueous extract from leaves and stems of S. biafrae (AESb) on the onset of puberty and some biochemical and physiological parameters of reproduction in immature Wistar female rats.
Different doses of AESb were daily and orally administered to immature female rats (13 animals/group) for 30 days. At the end of the treatment period, six animal of each experimental group were sacrificed and their body, ovarian, uterus weight; uterine, ovarian protein or cholesterol level as well as data on puberty onset recorded. The remaining animals of each group were used for the fertility test and some gestational parameters recorded.
A linear increase in the growth rate of all animals was observed. The body weight gain in animals treated at the dose of 8 mg/kg of AESb significantly increased (p < 0.05) after 25 days of treatment while those receiving the doses of 32 and 64 mg/kg presented a significantly low body weight gain starting from the 19th day till the end of the treatment period. The ages (days) of animals at vaginal opening (VO) was significantly reduced (p < 0.05) in those treated with the doses of 32 (41.25 ± 0.51) and 64 mg/kg (41.42 ± 0.54) as compared to control animals (43.33 ± 0.73). AESb significantly increased (p < 0.05) the ovarian weight and the number of corpora lutea in animals treated with 8 mg/kg as well as the uterine weight and protein levels irrespective of the dose. No significant effect of the extract on various fertility and gestational parameters was registered.
The overall results of the present study provide evidence on the puberty onset induction and ovarian folliculogenesis effect of AESb in immature female rat.
Senecio biafrae（菊科）是一种药用植物，在喀麦隆西部地区被传统治疗师广泛用于治疗女性不孕。本实验旨在评估来自 S. biafrae（AESb）的叶和茎的水提取物对青春期的开始以及未成熟 Wistar 雌性大鼠生殖的一些生化和生理参数的影响。
不同剂量的 AESb 每天经口给予未成熟雌性大鼠（每组 13 只）30 天。在治疗期结束时，每组中的 6 只动物被牺牲，并记录其体重、卵巢、子宫重量；子宫、卵巢的蛋白质或胆固醇水平以及青春期开始的数据。每组其余的动物用于生育测试并记录一些妊娠参数。
所有动物的生长速度均呈线性增加。在治疗 25 天后，用 8mg/kg AESb 治疗的动物的体重增加明显增加（p <0.05），而用 32 和 64mg/kg 治疗的动物从第 19 天开始至治疗期结束时，体重增加明显较低。阴道开口（VO）的动物年龄（天）在 32mg/kg（41.25 ± 0.51）和 64mg/kg（41.42 ± 0.54）治疗的动物中显著降低（p <0.05）与对照动物（43.33 ± 0.73）相比。AESb 显著增加（p <0.05）用 8mg/kg 治疗的动物的卵巢重量和黄体数量以及子宫重量和蛋白质水平，而与剂量无关。提取物对各种生育和妊娠参数没有显著影响。
本研究的总体结果提供了关于 AESb 在未成熟雌性大鼠中诱导青春期开始和卵巢卵泡发生的证据。
