Comparative study on the contraceptive effects of butanol and dichloromethane fractions of <i>Carica Papaya</i> male tree bark in male Sprague Dawley rats

BACKGROUND: The use of Carica papaya extract in traditional medicine suggests that it might have contraceptive effects on reproductive indices. Traditional healers in Nigeria have used male tree bark of Carica Papaya as a source of antifertility agent. . However, there are few information in scientific literature concerning the male tree bark extract of Carica papaya and media of preparation. AIM: The aim of this study was to compare the contraceptive effects of butanol and dichloromethane fractions of male Carica papaya tree bark. METHODOLOGY: The male tree bark of Carica papaya was dried and blended into powdery form, then dissolved in water. The solution was fractionated by column chromatography with petroleum ether and further fractionated using butanol and dichloromethane to isolate butanol (CPFB) and dichloromethane (CPFD) fractions respectively. A total of fifteen animals were divided into three experimental study groups A, B and C. Groups A and B received moderate doses of 75 mg/kg body weight of CPFB and CPFD for 28 days respectively while group C received distilled water. Animals were euthanized after 4weeks of administration, the testes were removed, and used for sperm count and motility evaluations. Blood sample were collected via left ventricular cardiac puncture and used to assay testosterone, luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone levels. RESULTS: The fractions from both media have contraceptive effect, however the semen analysis of CPFB group showed significantly decrease (p<0.01) in reproductive hormones and corresponding decrease in sperm count and motility when compared with the CPFD group. Hence the CPFB group showed more contraceptive potential than the CPFD group when compared with the normal state of the control group. CONCLUSION: The findings from this present study showed that the butanol fractionation of male sex Carica papaya tree bark demonstrated more contraceptive effects than the dichloro methane fractionate, making Butanol a better choice for fractionation in the contraceptive usage of male sex Carica papaya tree bark.