摘要：An earlier study found that progesterone hormone levels in adult female rats increased by nearly two-fold relative to usual levels following intramuscular injection (w/v, 100 mg/kg body weight for four days (s.d.d.)) of methanol extracts of Dendrophthoe petandra L. Miq (common name Benalu duku ) leaves. This result suggests that Benalu duku contains pregnane derivative steroids that have carbon bonding at positions 1 and 21. Here we examined the specificity and pharmacodynamics of active substances with progesterone-like effects in crude methanol extracts made from Benalu duku leaves. Pulverized Benalu duku leaves (400 g) were extracted with 2 L analytical grade methanol at 20°C for 72 h using a shaker maceration method. The semi-solid crude extract was dried under vacuum and exposed to UV light prior to spectroscopic analysis. FT-IR and LC ESI MS analysis detected active substances having a pregnane derivative chemical structure with progesterone, medroxy progesterone acetate, megestrol acetate and dydrogesterone present at distributions of about 30, 66, 3 and 1%.
