Antifertility and Anti-Implantation Activity of Methanol Fraction of Melia azedarach Linn. Seed Extract in Female Albino Rats

To meet the demands of rapidly increasing human population and to prevent the economic loss, it becomes imperative to develop and apply various types of rodent management strategies, amongst which fertility regulating agents of plant origin that can interfere with the natural patterns of reproduction are considered to be the most valuable. Therefore, the present investigation was aimed to study the effect of methanol fraction of seed extract of Melia azedarach Linn. (Family Meliaceae) on estrous cycle, fertility and implantation in female albino rats @1mg, 3mg, 6mg, 12mg, 24mg/kg body weight. Fertility index and average number of embryos were considerably reduced in the treatment groups. However, the occurrence of various stages of estrous cycle was not disturbed significantly. Pre-implantation, post-implantation and total prenatal mortality was significantly increased during D1-D7pc and D7-D18pc @24mg/kg body weight as compared to control. The average gestation period was increased where as litter size, live birth index and average life span of young ones decreased considerably. Thus, the results indicate that the methanol fraction of M. azedarach can be used as a fertility regulating agent as it possess antifertility, anti-implantation / abortive activity that may be attributed to its antiestrogenic property resulting in hormonal imbalance creating an unfavorable uterine environment for implantation and development.