Ox-Eye Beans (Mucuna urens L): A Novel Indigenous Contraceptive

Abstract

Mucuna urens L, commonly called ox-eye beans, a well known and well consumed climbing herb in the Southern and South-Eastern States of Nigeria was tested for its contraceptive effects in male albino rats. The age-long claim by the locales that consume this herb, that it reduces fertility in the male, led to this investigation. A total of twenty-four rats, twelve males and twelve females were used for this study. Male albino rats (Wister strain) were divided into four groups viz: group I, group II, group III and group IV and treated with four - 0 mg/kg (control), 70mg/kg, 140mg/kg and 210mg/kg - different dosages of ethanol extract of the aerial parts of M. urens respectively for 14 consecutive days. After the treatment period, female rats were mated to the treated males at a ratio of 1:1. Fourteen (14) days after mating the treated male rats to untreated females, the female rats were sacrificed for the Induced dominant Lethal Mutation Assay (IDLMA). Results showed a significant difference (P<0.05) in the dominant lethal effect between the treated rats and the control. Mean life implants were 8.67±0.57, 7.00±1.00, 4.33±3.70 and 0.00±0.00 for treatment groups I, II, III and IV while the mean dead implants were 0.00±0.00, 2.00±0.57, 4.00±2.64 and
7.67±0.57 respectively. The induced dominant lethal indices calculated, were 0.0, 0.18, 0.50 and 1.00 for groups I, II, III and IV, respectively. Photographs of the corpora leutea, were obtained using adigital camera (DCR-HC48E, KODAK). The results have shown that the consumption of the ethanol seed extracts of Mucuna urens L could induce dominant lethal mutations in
spermatocytes and early spermatids in the male, showing the mutagenic effect of the seeds of the plant M. urens and its contraceptive effects on the male reproductive system.