Spermicidal activity of the hexane extract of Piper longum: an in vitro study.

This study was carried out to assess the spermicidal action of hexane extract from the fruits of Piper longum Linn. The sperm immobilisation studies showed that 20 mg/mL of hexane extract was able to immobilise sperms completely within 20 s. The sperm revival test revealed that the effects were spermicidal as sperm immobilisation effect was irreversible. There was also a significant reduction in sperm viability in the treated group in comparison to the control. The hypo-osmotic swelling of these sperms was significantly reduced, indicating that the hexane extract may probably cause injury to the sperm plasma membrane. Hence, this study showed that the hexane extract of P. longum possesses potential contraceptive spermicidal activity in vitro.

Extract of Azadirachta indica (neem) leaf induces apoptosis in rat oocytes cultured in vitro.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether aqueous neem leaf extract (NLE) could induce degeneration of rat oocytes and, if so, whether apoptosis is involved during NLE-induced degeneration of oocytes cultured in vitro. DESIGN: A controlled prospective study. SETTING: Laboratory research setting at Department of Reproductive Biomedicine of the Institute. ANIMAL(S): Fifty-four sexually immature female rats that were 24-25 days of age. INTERVENTION(S): The immature female rats were injected with 10 IU pregnant mare serum gonadotropin for 48 h followed by 10 IU human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) for 16 h. After 16 h, the rats were killed and ovulated cumulus oocyte complexes were collected from the oviduct. Cumulus-enclosed as well as denuded oocytes were used in the present study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Rates of shrinkage, membrane leakage, degeneration, assessment of morphological apoptotic changes, bax protein expression, and DNA fragmentation. RESULT(S): The NLE induced morphologic apoptotic changes such as shrinkage, membrane leakage, and cytoplasmic fragmentation prior to degeneration of oocytes. The NLE-treated oocytes that had morphologic apoptotic features showed overexpression of bax protein and DNA fragmentation as evidenced by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase nick-end labeling-positive staining and DNA ladder pattern. CONCLUSION(S): Neem leaf extract induced apoptosis in rat oocytes prior to degeneration in vitro.