Antifertility Activity of Crude Extracts of Pouzolzia mixta in Female Rats

Pouzolzia Mixta (hypoleuca), is a small multi- stemmed shrub tree from the Urticaceae family found throughout Southern Africa. The dried shrub’s root powder has been the traditional contraception for Zimbabwean women for centuries. Traditionally believed to possess postcoital anti-fertility activity, the dried ground powder is taken in mealie meal porridge the morning after sexual intercourse to prevent pregnancy or as an infusion in beverages. The root powder efficacy and safety however remain scientifically unsubstantiated. Apart from poor adherence issues, current conventional emergency contraception methods have reported adverse side effects and significant failure rate which results in unwanted pregnancies and illegal abortions. There is a need therefore to explore traditional safe and effective emergency contraception alternatives. Our present study explores the biosafety and efficacy of Pouzolzia Mixta as a herbal emergency contraception. Phyto screening of the root extract for active metabolites was done using classical wet chemistry techniques. The oral toxicity was assessment using a modified OECD TG 425 method. The anti-fertility effect was assessed biochemically on hormonal changes using nulliparous laboratory Wistar rats. The study’s results confirmed the abundance of secondary metabolites of pharmacological relevance in the lyophilised root extracts. The serum biochemical assays demonstrated hormonal aberrations in estrogenic and oxytocin biomolecules of anti-implantation relevance. The toxicity studies confirmed the biosafety of the root extract at 4000mg/kg body weight in laboratory animal models. Our studies therefore concluded that P Mixta root extracts do possess potential antifertility activity in female rats and are toxicologically safe according to the Hodge and Steiner toxicity classification.