Determination of LD50 of extract of Crotalaria juncea in female albino rats
Rekha Barethia
Department of Zoology, Government Post Graduate College, Bina (India)
ABSTRACT
Crotalaria juncea is known to possess number of medicinal virtues, although every part of this plant is considered medicinal but the seeds are reported to be more useful. Therefore a study was carried out to investigate the possible toxic effect of the seed extract of Crotalaria juncea on reproduction in rats. As it is known to possess significant antifertility activity, moreover it has been noticed that the extract also caused remarkable fluctuation on hormonal status. In modern era more than seventy million women of all over the world are using the oral contraceptives due to their effectiveness; however these were associated with some undesired effects. Thus the purpose of study specially focused to evaluate the adequate toxicity of extract in rats through oral route, from the experiment it is recorded that the LD50 of seed extract of Crotalaria juncea is moderately and highly toxic and the result summarize that the effective antifertility dose and lethal dose LD50 are quite close. Therefore there is clear cut indication that plants containing some chemicals definitely influence fertility regulation.