THE EFFECTS OF INJECTION OF LITHOSPERMUM RUDERALE ON THE ENDOCRINE ORGANS OF THE RAT

Abstract

THE earliest reference to the pharmacological action of the plant lithospermum ruderale was contained in a treatise on the medicinal uses of plants by the Indian tribes of Nevada (Train, Hendricks, and Archer, 1941). The plant was used by small groups of Indians as a means of contraception. If taken over a prolonged period of time the reputed result was permanent sterility. In 1945, Cranston studied the action of the plant on mice. She found that a 50% alcoholic extract of lithosperm incorporated in the diet at a level of 40% caused cessation of the estrous cycle of mice in the diestrous phase. Even after several months of treatment, normal cycles resumed within six days following withdrawal of the plant. Powdered crude plant as 15% of the diet also caused cessation of the cycles without loss of body weight.