Mechanism of retained placenta and its treatment by plant medicine in ruminant animals in Oromia, Ethiopia

Retained placenta is the abnormal condition in animal reproduction in which fetal membrane failed to detach from maternal uterine wall after postpartum. The retention of placenta can create some disorders within reproductive organ of animals by allowing microorganisms to grow inside the uterus causing inflammation of uterus, fever, weight loss, decreasing milk yield, longer calving intervals and if the case is severe animals may die. The pathogenesis pathway of retained placenta development commences with an imbalance of antioxidant or oxidant capacity, decrease in estrogen production, decreased prostaglandin F2 alpha, and accumulation of arachidonic and linoleic acids in the placental tissue. Retained placenta can be treated with different methods such as manual removal, administration of intrauterine antibiotics, administration of hormonal therapy, and the use of plant medicine. The most common parts of plants used for drugs preparation are the leave, bark, root, stem and seed of the specific plant. The route of drug administration to animal is oral and vagina infusion. The herbal or plant prescriptions for treatment of placenta retention are characterized as antibiosis, antiphlogosis, immune enhancement and fertility improvement without endometrial injuries. The plants which have been used as treatment of retained placenta in Ethiopia are Flax seed, Vernonia amygdalia, Dodonea angustifolia, Solanum acaule, Solanum acuminatum, Dovyalis spp., Galinsoga quadriradiata, Plumbago zeylanica, Momordica spp., Colocasia esculenta, Bryophyllum pinnatu and Urera hypselodendron. The main objective of this paper is to illustrate the mechanism of retained placenta and its treatment using plant medicine in current status which helps the pastoral and clinician at remote areas and also to give enough information on the plant species that are sources of different chemical ingredient for future production of modern drug treatment for retained placenta.