Sperm antimotility properties of a seed extract of Abrus precatorius
Ratnasooriya, W.D.; Amarasekera, A.S.; Perera, N.S.; Premakumara, G.A.
Journal of Ethnopharmacology 33(1-2): 85-90
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0378-8741 PMID: 1943179 DOI: 10.1016/0378-8741(91)90166-bDocument Number: 318037
Researchers from the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka produced a methanolic extract from the seeds of Abrus precatorius to determine if it could produce an inhibitory effect on sperm motility. Concentrations of 1.25 and 2.5 mg/ml of the extract significantly reduced motility after 60 minutes of incubation (p/001). Further concentrations of 5 mg/ml caused the same significant level of impairment as 1.25 and 2.5 mg.ml concentrations (p.001), but at 30 minutes rather than 60 minutes. Moreover concentrations of 10 and 20 mg/ml significantly prevented motility almost immediately (p.001). In fact, at 20 mg/ml concentrations, motility completely stopped at 0 minutes in 3 of the 9 samples and, by 5 minutes, it stopped motility in an additional 5 samples. None of the samples exhibited mobile sperm at 15 minutes at 20 mg/ml concentrations. The extract could produce sperm antimotility activity at the EC50 concentration of 2.29 mg/ml. In addition, after washing, the researchers observed that the antimotility effect was basically irreversible. The highest concentration (20 mg/ml) impaired the functional integrity of the plasma membrane and viability of spermatozoa. This did not happen at the lower concentrations. Instead, the researchers found that a rise in intracellular calcium, and/or a fall in cAMP content, and/or enhanced generation of a reactive oxygen species may have caused the antimotility action at the lower concentrations. In conclusion, scientists can use the seeds of A. precatorius to isolate bioactive compounds with contraceptive abilities.