ArticleJournal of ethnopharmacology2012
Uterine contractility of plants used to facilitate childbirth in Nigerian ethnomedicine.
Article in Journal of ethnopharmacology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 95 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence of herbal medicine use for maternal conditions in Tanzania: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness and safety of herbal medicines for induction of labour: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2018Pooled it
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- Traditional birth attendants knowledge of delivery and its danger signs: a one-on-one interview.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Ethnopharmacological considerations of plants traditionally used by local communities to manage maternal conditions in Tanzania: a scoping review.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Review
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- Traditional Uses, Phytochemistry, and Bioactivities ofEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2022Review
- Heavy Metals, Proximate Analysis and Brine Shrimp Lethality ofFoods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Understanding forgotten exposures towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3: a cross-sectional study on herbal medicine use during pregnancy or delivery in Tanzania.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2021Article
- Subtribe Hyptidinae (Lamiaceae): A promising source of bioactive metabolites.Journal of ethnopharmacology · 2021Review
- Toxicological and Pharmacological Activities ofFrontiers in pharmacology · 2020Article
- Herbal Medicine Use During Pregnancy: A Review of the Literature With a Special Focus on Sub-Saharan Africa.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2020Review
- Prevalence of Traditional Medicine Use during Pregnancy, at Labour and for Postpartum Care in a Rural Area in Zimbabwe.Clinics in mother and child health · 2019Article
- Subtle modifications to oxytocin produce ligands that retain potency and improved selectivity across species.Science signaling · 2017Article
- Herbal medicine use and linked suspected adverse drug reactions in a prospective cohort of Ugandan inpatients.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2016Article
- An exploration of village-level uterotonic practices in Fenerive-Est, Madagascar.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2016Article
- Ethnobotanical survey of Rinorea dentata (Violaceae) used in South-Western Nigerian ethnomedicine and detection of cyclotides.Journal of ethnopharmacology · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
ethnopharmacological relevancePregnant women in Nigeria use plant preparations to facilitate childbirth and to reduce associated pain. The rationale for this is not known and requires pharmacological validation. AIM OF STUDY: Obtain primary information regarding the traditional use of plants and analyze their uterine contractility at cellular level. MATERIALS AND
methodsSemi-structured, open interviews using questionnaires of traditional healthcare professionals and other informants triggered the collection and identification of medicinal plant species. The relative traditional importance of each medicinal plant was determined by its use-mention index. Extracts of these plants were analyzed for their uterotonic properties on an in vitro human uterine cell collagen model.
resultThe plants Calotropis procera, Commelina africana, Duranta repens, Hyptis suaveolens, Ocimum gratissimum, Saba comorensis, Sclerocarya birrea, Sida corymbosa and Vernonia amygdalina were documented and characterized. Aqueous extracts from these nine plants induced significant sustained increases in human myometrial smooth muscle cell contractility, with varying efficiencies, depending upon time and dose of exposure.
conclusionThe folkloric use of several plant species during childbirth in Nigeria has been validated. Seven plants were for the first time characterized to have contractile properties on uterine myometrial cells. The results serve as ideal starting points in the search for safe, longer lasting, effective and tolerable uterotonic drug leads.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.