ADEPO Yapo Prosper¹, ATTO Virginie², TOUZOU Bléou Jean-Jaurès¹, BIEGO Godi Henri^1,

Euphorbia hirta is a herbaceous plant, widespread in all tropical and subtropical regions of the world. It is widely used in traditional medicine for a wide variety of therapeutic indications such as gastrointestinal, respiratory and hepatic infections; it is also used orally for its galactagogue effects in breastfeeding women. In order to enhance the Euphorba hirta plant, studies on the prolactin level and clinical signs in rats force-fed with the aqueous extract of this plant were carried out. The study was carried out experimentally on 18 adult female Albino Wistar rats divided into three (3) groups of six (6) rats. The first batch received by gavage (twice a day for 4 days) distilled water, the second received by gavage a galactogil and the third batch received by gavage the aqueous extract of Euphorba hirta at 0.2 g/mL. The results showed that the prolactin level (15.22 ± 0.67 ng/ml) in the rats force-fed with the aqueous extract of Euphorba hirta is significantly higher (p < 0.05) than that of the female rats having received distilled water (10.41± 0.11 ng/ml). However, the prolactin level in rats force-fed with the aqueous extract of Euphorba hirta is not significantly different (p>0.05) from that of female rats having received galactogil (15.26 ± 0.84 ng/ ml) All the animals survived for the duration of the experiment and showed no clinical signs. This shows that the aqueous extract of Euphorba hirta is well tolerated by rats. These results open up interesting perspectives relating to the use of the Euphorbia hirta plant in the form of a food that can constitute an effective and rapid means of combating the hypogalactia in breastfeeding women.

female rats, gavage, clinical signs, prolactin