Current status of plant products reported to inhibit sperm.

This report reviews research on plant-derived agents that prevent sperm production if taken orally by the male or that incapacitate or kill sperm on contact if used vaginally by the female. It would be of great value to develop fertility inhibitors that are totally selective for reproductive systems and enzymes, and there is a possibility that a plant-derived drug may have this effect. Plants that have been studied for their fertility inhibiting effects in the male include: Aristolochia indica L. (Aristolochiaceae); Azadirachta indica A. Juss (Meliaceae); Balanites roxburghii Planch. (Zygophyllaceae); Calotropis procera (Ait) R.Br. (Asclepiadaceae); Carica papaya L. (Caricaceae); Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don (Apocynaceae); Dieffenbachia seguine (Jacquin) Schott. (Araceae); Ecaballium elaterium A. Richard (Cucurbitaceae); Gossypium species (Malvaceae); Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L. (Malvaceae); Hippophae salicifolia D. Don (Elaeagnaceae); Leucaena glauca (L.) Benth. (Leguminosae); Lonicera ciliosa Poir. (Caprifoliaceae); Lupinus termis Forsk. (Leguminosae); Malvaviscus conzattii Greenm. (Malvaceae); Momordica charantia L. (Curcurbitaceae); Ocimum sanctum L. (Labiatae); Prunus emarginata Walp. (Rosaceae); and Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal (Solanaceae). A large number of plants have been randomly selected and screened for spermicidal activity "in vitro" and several seem promising. Those species found to be active and the nature of the active principle(s), when known, are presented in a table as are plant-derived chemical substances of known or partially known structure reported to be spermicidal "in vitro." Plants warrant systematic study as potential sources of sperm-agglutinating compounds. Of 1600 Indian plants tested, 90 showed positive semen coagulating properties. There seems to be a lack of correlation among experimental results obtained by different groups of investigators, between data obtained "in vitro" and "in vivo," and between experimental results and information found in folklore. Factors complicating the adequate assessment of plants affecting male fertility are inadequate numbers of vehicle-treated controls, poor experimental design, problems related to insolubility of crude plant extracts, variation in routes of administration, diversity in reproductive function and control among various laboratory species, and problems in identifying plant names consistently.