The possible role of steroid hormones present in Vitex negundo and its efficacy as a contraceptive

Vitex negundo is used as a contraceptive in traditional medicine. Most of the oral contraceptive pills used in allopathic medicine is the combination of estrogen and progesterone. Some contraceptive pills (mini pills) contain progesterone alone. The present study shows that the extract of Vitex negundo contains estrogen, testosterone and progesterone; their concentrations were found to be 947.7pg/ml, 22.276ng/ml and 6.022ng/ml respectively. From these findings it is assumed that this high concentration of steroid hormones may contribute to its contraceptive action but it may have some side effects on the female reproductive physiology as it contains male hormone i.e. testosterone in addition to the progesterone and estrogen. On the basis of these findings, it is suggested that the trial of this drug on animals followed by clinical study should be carried out to see its anti-fertility activity and side effects.