EFFECTS OF TWO HOPS EXTRACTS ON THE UTERUS OF OVARIECTOMIZED RATS

ZANARDI MV; VARAYOUD J; GUENTHER T; DURANDO M; VOLLMER G; ZIERAU O

Buenos Aires

Congreso; REUNIÓN DE SOCIEDADES DE BIOCIENCIAS 2020; 2020

A botanical dietary supplement from Humulus lupulus (hops) contains mainly xantohumol (XN) but also 8-prenylnaringenin (8-PN), among others. These hops extracts exhibit chemopreventive, cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory properties while 8-PN is a potent phytoestrogen. Although the 8-PN concentration in hops is very low, XN (the most abundant compound) can be metabolized to 8-PN. Here we evaluated the potential estrogenic effects of hops and knockout hops (KO-hops) (reduced in XN and consequently in 8-PN) using the uterotrophic assay. Female Wistar rats (7 weeks old) were bilaterally ovariectomized (Ovx). Fourteen days after the surgery, rats were treated for three consecutive days with 17β-estradiol (E2: 4 µg/kg bw/day) or fed with the vehicle (Ovx), hops or KO-hops at 8, 40 and 200 mg/kg bw/day. Animals were sacrificed 24 h after the last treatment. The uterus was removed, weighed and processed for histology and mRNA extraction. We determine the relative uterine weight (rUW), luminal epithelial cell height (LECH) and the mRNA expression of the estrogen receptor α (Esr1) and complement C3 (C3). The rUW and LECH were increased by E2 respect to Ovx (p