Endocrine Abstracts

Arunachal Pradesh is one of the north eastern provinces of India situated on the Eastern Himalayan mountain range. Enriched with diversified flora, fauna and ethnic population, this zone has been recognised as one of the world’s Mega Biodiversity hot spots. The people of this state use bark powder of a plant Dysoxylum alliarium for pregnancy control of mated females especially dogs and pigs.

Objective: Validation of this bark’s abortifacient property was carried out in pregnant female albino rats. The aim was to study the effect of the bark extract on number of implantation sites, uterine protein profile and expression of VEGF-C in the foetal–maternal interface during early gestation.

Methods: Thin layered chromatographic fraction of the bark extract (methanolic) has been orally administered in a dose of 500 mg/kg per day during 0700–0900 h from day 1 of pregnancy.

Females were killed with cervical dislocation on the last day of treatment from day 5 to 8 of gestation during 1800–1900 h. Uterine protein profile was studied by one dimensional reducing SDS-PAGE (12%), while VEGF-C has been localised using anti VEGF antibodies in paraffin sections.

Results: Gradual reduction of implantation sites from day 6 to 8 of gestation and degenerated embryo was observed in the treated females. While some of the proteins failed to express some are newly synthesized in the treated females’ uterus. Increased VEGF expression in the decidual zone and foetal–maternal interface was a significant observation on the effect of bark extract.

Conclusion: The TLC fraction of bark extract of Dysoxylum alliarium carries potential antireproductive compound capable of pregnancy disruption mediate through endometrial protein expression. Increased expression of VEGF following extract treatment may be due to required internal milieu to restore fast changing uterine activity during embryo implantation that has been disrupted by the bark extract.