Effect of Taoren Quyu Decoction on human endometrial cells and its anti-endometriosis activity in rats

Hai-Zhi Liu; Xiao-Xue Han; Jia Liu; Feng-Cheng Zhu; Rui-Man Li

doi:10.1016/j.apjtm.2017.07.010

Effect of Taoren Quyu Decoction on human endometrial cells and its anti-endometriosis activity in rats

Asian Pac J Trop Med. 2017 Jul;10(7):696-700. doi: 10.1016/j.apjtm.2017.07.010. Epub 2017 Jul 27.

Authors

Hai-Zhi Liu¹, Xiao-Xue Han¹, Jia Liu¹, Feng-Cheng Zhu¹, Rui-Man Li²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong Province, China.
² Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong Province, China. Electronic address: hqyylrm@126.com.

PMID: 28870346
DOI: 10.1016/j.apjtm.2017.07.010

Abstract

Objective: To study the effect of Taoren Quyu Decoction (TQD) on endometrial cells in patients with endometriosis (EMs) and EMs in rats.

Methods: A total of 60 female Wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups, namely, normal group, model group, positive group and TQD group, each group having 15 rats. Except the normal group, EMs model was established in the other three groups by transplanting the rat autologous endometrium. After 4 weeks of intragastric administration, blood, eutopic and ectopic endometrial tissues of rats in each group were collected to detect the serum levels of estrogen (E2), cancer antigen 125 (CA125), endometrial antibody (EMAb), and expressions of microvessel density (MVD), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and angiopoietin (Ang-2). The volume of endometriosis cyst was determined simultaneously. For the in vitro culture of human endometrial cells, 4 groups, namely, normal group, model group, positive group and TQD group were used. The positive group and TQD group were treated with danazol and TQD respectively. Then 24 h after the treatment, the expressions of survivin and tumor suppressor gene (p53) of each group were detected.

Results: The volumes of the endometriosis cysts in the positive group and the TQD group were significantly reduced compared with the model group (P < 0.05). The serum levels of E2, CA125 and EMAb, and the expressions of MVD, VEGF and Ang-2 in the model group were significantly increased compared with the normal group (P < 0.05); while they were all significantly reduced in the positive group and TQD group (P < 0.05). Compared with the normal group, the expression of survivin in the model group was significantly up-regulated (P < 0.05), and expression of p53 was significantly reduced (P < 0.05); compared with the model group, the expressions of survivin in the positive and TQD groups were significantly decreased (P < 0.05), and expression of p53 was significantly up-regulated (P < 0.05). The difference between positive group and TQD group was not statistically significant (P > 0.05).

Conclusions: TQD has a significant anti-EMs effect, and its mechanism of action may be related to anti-angiogenesis and promoting apoptosis of ectopic endometrial cell.

Keywords: Angiogenesis; Apoptosis; Endometrial cell; Endometriosis; Rats; Taoren Quyu Decoction.