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Planta Med 1963; 11(4): 450-457
DOI: 10.1055/s-0028-1100264
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

THE ASSAY OF ESTROGENIC ACTIVITY IN SOME EGYPTIAN LEGUMES WITH THEIR EFFECTS UPON MOTILITY OF PREGNANT AND NON–PREGNANT UTERI

M. I. Elghamry, I. M. Shihata
  • From Dept. of Physiology & Dept. of Pharmacology, Faculty of Vet. Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt
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Publication History

Publication Date:
15 January 2009 (online)

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Summary

Working with three members of the family Leguminosae, which are: broad beans (Vicia f aba), kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) and peas (Visum sativurri), indicated that:

  1. Both the mouse–uterine–weight test and the vaginal smear one arranged, in a descending manner, the three legumes as: broad beans, kidney beans and peas according to their estrogenic potency. In terms of estradiol monobenzoate, one kg of green seeds of broad beans, kidney beans and peas contained 11.4, 8.2 and 5.1 μg. of the standard estrogen respectively.

  2. The present experiment indicated that the vaginal smear test was less sensitive than the uterine one for detection of estrogenicity in plants.

  3. A dose of 25 mg. of the extracted materials did not affect the uterine motility except in cases of kidney beans which caused a slight inhibition of pregnant uterus. Increasing the dose to 50 mg. of extracted broad beans and peas produced stimulation of non–pregnant uterus (at diestrus), while the same dose of kidney beans and peas inhibited the uterine motility of pregnant organ.

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