EFFECTS OF DICLIPTERA LAXATA (ACANTHACEAE) (C. B. CLARKE) ON THE ESTROUS CYCLE AND SOME REPRODUCTIVE INDICES IN ALLOXAN-INDUCED DIABETIC FEMALE RATS."

Treatment options for female infertility depend on the type of infertility and its possible causes and range from modern approaches to the use of medicinal plants. According to the people's oral history, Dicliptera laxata is a medicinal plant used in Bayang folk medicine as a fertility enhancer in women.. Furthermore, previous studies have revealed that D. laxata leaf-aqueous extract can restore cyclicity and increase reproductive performance in Abamectine-treated female rats. The present study was designed to evaluate the effects of D. laxata on the anestrous cycle and reproductive system of female rats with alloxan-induced diabetes. Female albino rats aged 12 weeks with regular cycles were partitioned into 2 main groups and fasted overnight. Group 1 comprised straight females and were administered 10 ml/kg distilled water, whereas group 2 received 180 mg/kg of alloxan monohydrate, intraperitoneally. The patients' glycemia was evaluated following standard procedures, and their estrous cycle was assessed. Those with alloxan-disrupted cycles were then partitioned into 5 groups (groups 2-6) and subjected to either of the following treatment: group 1 = normal control group (non-diabetic females with a regular cycle and that did not receive any substance); group 2= negative 2= control group (estrous cycle-disrupted females that did not receive any substance); group 3=neutral control group (estrous cycle-disrupted females treated with 10 mL of distilled water); group 4=positive control group (estrous cycle-disrupted female rats treated with 20 mg/kg of utrogestan); and groups 5 and 6=test groups (estrous cycle-disrupted females treated with 150 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg of the plant extract, respectively). Animals treated with the 150 mg/kg dose registered a 66.67% return to normal cyclicity, whereas those that received the 300 mg/kg dose recorded a 100% return to normal cyclicity, compared with the negative and neutral controls. In addition, there was an increase in the plasma concentration of estradiol (E2) and progesterone, an increase in the relative weight of reproductive organs, and a reduction in oxidative stress conditions in extract-treated animals. These findings show that D. laxata leaf-aqueous extract acts through an antioxidant mechanism and has estrogenic properties, thanks to the phyto-compounds present in it, including steroids, saponins, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, alkaloids and volatile oils