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Aim of the study. The herb. Artemisia monosperma, is a perennial fragrant plant which grows widely and wildly in the Arabian deserts The leaves of the plant are taken in folk medicine by certain women of Jordan for abortion induction The aim of this study was to asses the ethanolic leaves extract of the plant on the outcome of rat pregnancy

Materials and methods In this study, sub-lethal doses of ethanolic extract of the plant leaves were used to evaluate the effects of the extract on implantation, mid-term abortion and parturition.

Results: The intraperetoneal administration of 150 mg/kg or 300 mg/kg of the plant ethanolic extract on days 3-5 of gestation exhibited a decrease of viable fetus implantation and an increased in the number of adsorbing sites compared to control. Meanwhile, the administration of 50 mg/kg or 300 mg/kg of the ethanolic extract on days 10-12 of gestation exhibited dramatic mid-term abortion. Furthermore, the administration of 150 mg/kg or 300 mg/kg of the ethanolic extract on days 19-21 of gestation exhibited a delay of onset of delivery and failure of the spontaneous delivery of rat and also resulted in significant increase in serum oxytocin hormone level

Conclusion Since, Artemisia monosperma caused a drastic harm of the pregnancy outcomes of rat, as shown in this study, therefore, taking the leaves of the plant by pregnant women is not advisable. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd All rights reserved