Evaluation of Trimester Effects of Graded Doses of Pineapple (Ananas comosus) Juice Treatment in Pregnant Females

Abstract

Ethno-medically, pineapple is used as abortifacient. Moreover, pineapple juice was found to have utero tonic effect in vitro just like Oxytocin, but in vivo research, bred at 10 days (second trimester in albino rats) showed no abortifacient effect. Therefore, this research was set up to investigate the trimester effect of the juice using albino rats. A total of 74 albino rats were used. Twenty one rats were used for toxicity testing, 40 female albino rats of 12 weeks of age and 13 males of 14 weeks of age were used for in vivo investigations. The males were kept in 13 cages. The rats were acclimatized for one week. The female rats’ estrus were induced using peanut extract (Luchis estrus milk) at a dose of 800mg/kg body weight. Three females picked at random were introduced to each male albino rat for impregnation. The male in cage 6 had very high libido and was given 4 females to impregnate. Twelve female rats each divided into 3 groups of 4 were used to study each trimester effect while the remaining 4 impregnated rats served as control for the three trimester treatment groups. Breeding was confirmed through vaginal cytology. In all the trimesters, the treatments were: 250mg/kg, 500mg/kg and 1000mg/kg body weight (graded doses) of pineapple juice. The control was given 2ml/kg body weight of distilled water. Five days post breeding, graded doses of pineapple juice were given to first trimester treatment groups and control group. Second trimester groups were given graded doses of pineapple juice just as in first trimester at day 10 while third trimester treatment groups were treated just as in first and second trimester at day 20 post conception. Furthermore, 20 days post conception, blood for hematology (in heparinized bottles) and serology (in test tubes) were collected through the ocular vein of the median cantus in first trimester treatment groups and control. Then, the rats in first trimester treatment group and control were sacrificed. The result obtained showed that in the first trimester treatment group, the embryos were resorbed/aborted in female rats treated with 500mg/kg and 1000mg/kg respectively but stunted in rats treated with 250mg/kg. Conclusion: high doses of pineapple juice caused abortion. But low dose caused stunting of the growth of the fetus. This could be why some women experience the stunting of the growth of their fetuses which most often elongates the gestation period.