Effect of saline extract of alligator pepper (<i>Zingiberaceae aframomum melegueta</i>) on serum progesterone in pregnant Sprague Dawley rats

Abstract

This study was done to determine the cellular basis of the abortifacient effect of Alligator pepper on first trimester pregnancy using forty five female Sprague-Dawley rats mated with male rats for three days. Thereafter, the female rats were randomly selected into three groups, A, B and C. The rats in each group were further randomly selected into three subgroups A₁, A₂, A₃; B₁, B₂, B₃; and C₁, C₂ , C₃ for groups A, B and C respectively. Each rat in group A was administered with intra-peritoneal injection of 2ml of normal saline, while each rat in groups B and C was administered with 6.7mg/kg and 13.3mg/kg/body weight of saline extract of Alligator pepper on day 4 of gestation respectively. Blood was collected from A₁, B₁, C₁ on day 7; from A₂, B₂, C₂ on day 14 and from A₃, B₃, C₃ on day 21 by intra-ventricular aspiration and assayed for progesterone using ELISA technique. Results showed that progesterone level decreased significantly on days 7 and 21 of pregnancy among rats administered with 6.7mg/kg body weight, but day 7, only those treated with 13.3mg/kg /body weight of saline extract of Alligator pepper. Alligator pepper is  anti-progesterone.

Keywords: Saline extract, Alligator pepper, Progesterone, Sprague Dawley Rats, Pregnancy