Jussiaea repens as a Herbal Cotraceptive - A Mating Study in Male Rats

Wetland plant, Jussiaea repens (locally called Keshardam) is a medicinal herb in different countries in the world. It is also used as vegetables and animal-forage. In Papua New Guinea, the leaves and stems of the plant are considered as contraceptive in preventing pregnancy. But no suitable studies on antifertility effect of J. repens in males are yet available. The present study was designed to investigate the anti-gonadal property of J. repens in male rats through mating studies. The aqueous extract of J. repens at oral dose of 200 mg/kg b.wt/day for 28 days caused no significant change in body weight but weight of testis and cauda epididymis, sperm motility, total sperm count from cauda epididymis, sperm viability and normal sperms were signifi cantly reduced in treated group. The mating studies with treated group showed 25% fertility having '0' implantation site whereas in control it was 100% fertility and 10.7 implantation sites. In recovery group, 87.5% fertility and 9.8 implantation sites were observed per rat, which is near to normal. Withdrawal of drug for successive 28 days caused marked recovery in testicular and epididymal weight, sperm motility, count, viability and morphology possibly due to inhibition of spermatogenesis and steroidogenesis. The reversal studies caused recovery of reproductive parameters towards normal revealing the nontoxicity. So the present study may confi rm the anti-fertility effect of J. repens. Therefore, it may be used as herbal male contraceptive.