Jussiaea repens ( L ) Acts as an Uterotonic Agent - An In vitro Study

The ethno-biological concept about the use of herbal extract for parturition, lactation and sometimes for abortion is reported since ancient ages. Among such medicinal herbs, Jussiaea repens (L), commonly known as ‘Keshardam’ in Bengal, is a water cripping primerose, found in wet lands of Bengal and in other countries of the world also, has reported to have many medicinal uses in different fields i.e. antidiabetic, anti helminthic, anti inflammatory, antibacterial etc. Recently we have reported the plant as a nontoxic antigonadal herb in male rats. But there is no report yet regarding the effect of this plant extract in female reproductive system especially on uterus except in Papua New Guinea, where only ethno biological application of this plant has been reported to prevent pregnancy. So, the present study has undertaken to investigate whether the crude aqueous extract of J. repens (except root) has any effect on uterine contraction in in-vitro condition and also to study whether it’s action can be compared with the action of oxytocin. Results of our pilot studies show that the crude aqueous extract of Jussiaea repens at a dose of 40mg dry extract / 30 ml physiological fluid in a bath, on isolated non pregnant uterus of adult female rats in-vitro causes significant increase of force and frequency of contraction than normal. The results (as percentage) have compared with the effect of oxytocin in presence of atropine (oxytocin blocker). The results show that the extract may act as oxytocin which is antagonized by atropine. So, from the above study it may be concluded that, the extract of Jussiaea repens acts as herbal uterotonic agent and so can be applied after full term pregnancy, which may favour the smooth parturition process like oxytocin.