Preliminary study of phyllanthus niruri as a natural contraceptive for animals

An abstract of the research paper presented to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, in partial requirement on the course DVT 55204 - Research Project. Ongoing increases in the population of stray animals contributes to significant socioeconomic costs, environmental damage and zoonotic disease burden worldwide. The most common stray animals in Malaysia are domesticated pet animals such as cats and dogs, with current population control measures determined to be largely inadequate in controlling population growth. This is a preliminary research study to investigate the potential contraceptive properties of the common indigenous Malaysian Stonebreaker plant, Phyllanthus niruri and determine its feasibility as an alternative population control method for stray animals. Therefore, crude extracts of P. niruri were prepared and tested for cytotoxicity via MTT and DNA apoptosis assays on feline testicular cells. Results suggest that P. niruri extracts possess antifertility properties in-vitro. In contrast, P. niruri extracts are relatively non-toxic with little to no evidence of DNA fragmentation occurring at doses several magnitudes higher than predicted clinical usage doses. Further study is recommended to explore the potential of P. niruri in both animal models and real-world conditions.
Keywords: Phyllantus niruri, Feline Testicular Cells, Cytotoxicity, MTT assay, DNA apoptosis assay