Adverse pregnancy outcome in rats following exposure to a Salacia reticulata (Celastraceae) root extract

Abstract

The root extract of Salacia reticulata Wight (family: Celastraceae) is used in Sri Lanka by traditional practitioners as a herbal therapy for glycemic control even during pregnancy. It is recognized that some clinically used antidiabetic drugs have harmful effects on pregnancy but the effects of the S. reticulata root extract on reproductive outcome is unknown and deserves examination. We determined the effects of the S. reticulata root extract on the reproductive outcome of Wistar rats (250-260 g) when administered orally (10 g/kg) during early (days 1-7) and mid-(days 7-14) pregnancy. The root extract significantly (P<0.05) enhanced post-implantation losses (control vs treatment: early pregnancy, 4.7 ± 2.4 vs 49.3 ± 13%; mid-pregnancy, 4.7 ± 2.4 vs 41.7 ± 16.1%). Gestational length was unaltered but the pups born had a low birth weight (P<0.05) (early pregnancy, 6.8 ± 0.1 vs 5.3 ± 0.1 g; mid-pregnancy, 6.8 ± 0.1 vs 5.0 ± 0.1 g) and low birth index (P<0.05) (early pregnancy, 95.2 ± 2.4 vs 50.7 ± 12.9%; mid-pregnancy, 95.2 ± 2.4 vs 58.3 ± 16.1%), fetal survival ratio (P<0.05) (early pregnancy, 95.2 ± 2.4 vs 50.7 ± 12.9; mid-pregnancy, 95.2 ± 2.4 vs 58.3 ± 16.1), and viability index (P<0.05) (early pregnancy, 94.9 ± 2.6 vs 49.5 ± 12.5%; mid-pregnancy, 94.9 ± 2.6 vs 57.1 ± 16.1%). However, the root extract was non-teratogenic. We conclude that the S. reticulata root extract can be hazardous to successful pregnancy in women and should not be used in pregnancy complicated by diabetes.

Embryotoxic and Teratogenic Potentials of Salacia lehmbachii in Rats

“…The lack of maternal toxicity in this study as avidenced by absence of maternal deaths and clinical signs of toxicity as well as the similarity in food and water intake in all experimental groups suggests that the extracts do not cause developmental toxicity. Similar results were obtained from the root extract of S. Reticulata and extract of the aerial parts of Mentha piperita [42,43].…”

“…Furthermore, the absence of physical abnormalities in the fetuses and placentas with both ASL and ESL indicates there is no teratogenicity from the extracts at the doses studied. Lack of teratogenic effects was also reported with the root extract of Salacia reticulata [42]. …”

“…Normal implantation was also reported in pregnant rats treated with Carapa quianensis seed oil and aqueous stem extract of Bulbine natalensis Baker [48,45]. On the contrary, there was impaired embryo development in rats treated with the root extract of S. reticulata because of post-implantation losses, and those given extracts of Asparagus racemosus and Solanum lycocarpum as a result of increased number of resorptions [42,46,44].…”

“…Since literature search shows no previous work on the effect of Salacia lehmbachii on pregnancy and fetal development, there are no results on the plant to compare with findings of this work. However, effects of Salacia reticulata, a specie in the genus, Salacia and some other herbs on pregnancy and fetal development have been evaluated [35,[40][41][42][43][44][45][46].…”

Biosafety of multiwalled carbon nanotube in mice: a behavioral toxicological approach

“…Reproductive indices were evaluated using a modified version of the previous methods (Ratnasooriya et al, 2003;Yousofi et al, 2011). Briefly, sex distributions of offspring, defined as number of male pups/ number of female pups; gestation index, defined as the number of pregnant females with alive pups/the number of total females; post-natal survival rate, defined as the number of pups alive on postnatal day (PND) 4/the number of alive pups; and lactation rate, defined as weight of pups alive at PND 21/weight of pups on PND 4.…”