Plants Used for Reproduction and Contraception
Plants affecting reproduction
Many ways plants used for reproductive system
Contraceptives Aphrodiasics Aids in child birth
Development of modern contraceptives
1933 Corner and Allen isolated progesterone from corpus luteum 1933 Butenandt and Jacobi discover plant chemicals similar to female sex hormones 1934 structural formula determined by Wintersteiner and Allen 1939-1941 Russel Marker described use of plant sources to produce progesterone
Disogenin from Dioscorea (wild yam) especially promising
1945-1960, Pincus, Chang, Rock worked on development of birth control pill - clinical trials in 1950s and FDA approval in 1960
Diosogenin
Human steroids
progesterone
testosterone
cortisol
Yams - Dioscorea spp.
True yams - Tuber crop Important staples in many areas:
West Africa, southeast Asia, Pacific Islands, and Caribbean Islands
Genus has several hundred species of which ten are major food sources Yams have been cultivated for over 5000 years in tropical Africa.
Dioscorea - tropical vine
Tubers of Dioscorea
Yam
Yam harvest
Other herbal contraceptives
Silphium or Silphion A plant in the genus Ferula – parsley family Related to giant fennel Native to northern Africa near the city of ancient city of Cyrene
Silphium on Ancient Greek Coins
Silphium
Pliny, Theophrastus, Soranus, and Dioscorides Another species of Ferula (Ferula assafoetida) became an acceptable substitute for silphium after silphium became extinct
Other Ferula species
Modern researchers tested Ferula spp and found anti-fertility effects in the family Crude extracts of asafetida and Ferula orientalis inhibited implantation of fertilized eggs in rats by 40% to 50% Other Ferula species have similar results; one species was found to be nearly 100% effective in preventing pregnancy when administered to female rats within three days after intercourse
Other Plants in Ancient World
Pomegranate Queen Anne’s Lace Pennyroyal
Artemisia
Date Palm Doom Palm Juniperus
Myrrh Squirting cucumber Aloe Willow Cypress Rue Chaste tree
Queen Anne’s Lace
Women have used the seeds from Daucus carota (wild carrot or queen anne’s lace) for centuries as a contraceptive Earliest written reference dates back to the late 5th or 4th century B.C. appearing in a work by Hippocrates
Queen Anne’s Lace
Distribution of Daucus carota
Queen Anne’s Lace
Animal studies have shown that extracts of seeds disrupt implantation Also a fertilized egg that has recently implanted will be released Terpenoids in seed block progesterone synthesis in pregnant animals Some “herbalists” suggests it makes the uterus slippery so that the egg is unable to implant
Pomegranate
Punicia granatum is a shrub or small
tree native to southern Asia Widely known in ancient times - and used medicinally
Pomegranate
Contemporary studies show pomegranate has contraceptive properties Female rats 72% reduction in fertility In another study 50% reduction in fertility Guinea pigs 100% reduction in fertility 40 days after removing pomegranate fertility was restored in both animals
Male Contraceptive
For a number of years researchers looking into the question of the development of an effective oral contraceptive for men Much attention focused on gossypol from cottonseed oil
Known to cause male infertility in areas where cottonseed oil used Decades of work on the development of gossypol as a contraceptive – stopped when side effects showed hypokalaemia – low level of K+ in blood