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Of the 7 carotane sesquiterpenes of Ferula jaeschkeana Vatke evaluated, three jaeschkeanadiol esters (compounds 3, 5, and 6) showed contraceptive efficacy when administered orally on days 1-7 post coitum in rats. In ovarieetomized immature female rats, however, the active compounds exhibited estrogenie activity and were devoid of antiestrogenie activity. Using a competitive protein binding assay, the compounds 3, 5, and 6 showed relative binding affinity of 0.01%, 5.75%, and 0.75% of 173-estradiol, respectively, for rat uterine cytosol estrogen receptors.

To study post-coital antifertility activity of a methanolic extract of the resin of Ferula assafoetida L., three column fractions, and a mixture of the three major sulphur-containing compounds from one of the column fractions were evaluated in adult Sprague-Dawley rats. Oral administration of the methanolic extract at a dose of 400 mg/kg daily on days 1-10 post-coitum prevented pregnancy in 80% of the rats. Interestingly, when administered as a PVP 1:2 complex, 100% pregnancy inhibition was observed at this dose. Lower doses of the extract caused a marked reduction in the mean number of implantations. On column chromatography, significant antifertility activity was also observed in the hexane and chloroform eluents of this extract. In an immature rat bioassay, the methanolic extract was devoid of any estrogenic activity.

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