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Asiatic acid, a non-detergent type spermicide: exploration of plausible pathway of spermicidal action

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Abstract

The spermicidal and microbicidal activity of Asiatic acid isolated from Shorea robusta resin was explored earlier using rat spermatozoa. The current investigation is aimed at examining the spermicidal efficacy of the molecule against human spermatozoa along with the plausible pathway involved in its spermicidal action. Spermicidal efficacy of Asiatic acid against human spermatozoa was evaluated in vitro by modified Sander-Cramer test and the subsequent mode of spermicidal action was assessed by (a) hypo-osmotic swelling test, (b) double fluoroprobe staining, (c) flow cytometric detection of apoptosis by fluorescein isothiocyanate-Annexin V labelling and (d) JC-1 labelling. The minimum effective concentration of the molecule against human spermatozoa was found to be 500 µg/ml which is comparable to the standard spermicide nonoxynol-9 (minimum effective concentration 550 µg/ml). The mechanistic pathway of spermicidal action of the molecule involves apoptosis rather than general cell necrosis. The molecule Asiatic acid may be explored as an ingredient for the formulation of a new generation non-detergent type microbicidal contraceptive.

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Acknowledgement

The authors express their thanks and gratitude to Department of Science and Technology (DST, Women Scientist scheme (SR/WOS-A/LS491/2013(G)) for providing the financial support for this work and fellowship to SK. NBM and YPB are indebted to CSIR for the award of Emeritus Scientist scheme and Research Associate ship, respectively. The authors are also thankful to the Director, IICB, for laboratory facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 4 Raja S. C. Mullick Road, Jadavpur, Kolkata, 700032, India

    Shrabanti Kumar, Yogesh P. Bharitkar, Gopinatha S. Kumar & Nirup B. Mondal

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  1. Shrabanti Kumar
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  2. Yogesh P. Bharitkar
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  3. Gopinatha S. Kumar
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  4. Nirup B. Mondal
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Correspondence to Shrabanti Kumar or Nirup B. Mondal.

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Kumar, S., Bharitkar, Y.P., Kumar, G.S. et al. Asiatic acid, a non-detergent type spermicide: exploration of plausible pathway of spermicidal action. Med Chem Res 25, 1908–1915 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00044-016-1623-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00044-016-1623-x

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