NATIVE PLANTS Tessaria absinthioides AND Prosopis strombulifera MODULATES THE PROLIFERATION AND ESTRADIOL RECEPTOR EXPRESSION ON THE ENDOMETRIAL CELL LINE ECC-1

PENAS VERONICA; CASTRO CLAUDIA; QUESADA ISABEL; GAMARRA LUQUES CD,; HAPON MB

Congreso; XXXIX Reunión Científica Anual de la Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo; 2021

Sociedad de Biologia de Cuyo

Herbal medicine is regarded as a substitute or complement to occidental medicine. However, a limited number of medicinal herbs havebeen tested scientifically for their safety. In the province of Mendoza, folk medicine describes more than five hundred species used in thecare and preservation of health. Our previous results demonstrated that, the aqueous extract of the native plants Prosopis strombulifera(Ps) and Tessaria absinthioides (Ta) exhibit glycemic and lipid-lowering, antiatherosclerotic, antimitogenic and antitumor activity. Otherauthors suggest that Prosopis sp displays a phytoestrogenic effect resembling the isoflavones genistein and daidzein. Their administrationaltered the estrous cycle, uterine morphology and sexual receptivity in female rats. On the other hand, no studies of the genus Tessariahave been reported in relation to reproduction. The main hypothesis of this presentation is that there are active molecules in the aqueousextracts of Ps and Ta that display phytoestrogenic effects. To test this hypothesis, we proposed to evaluate in vitro, on a human endometrialcancer cell line (ECC-1), the proliferation, toxicity and modulation of steroid receptors in response to treatment with Ps and Ta extracts.The proliferation and toxicity was evaluated by MTT and the expression of steroid receptors by RTqPCR, comparing the treatment Ps andTa extracts to the effect of estradiol on the ECC-1 cell line. Ps extract exerts a dual effect on proliferation, it slightly increases theproliferation of ECC-1 cells at low concentrations (0.05). We can conclude that the aqueous extract ofthe native plants Ps and Ta, affects the proliferation of endometrial cells and modulates the expression of estrogen receptors in vitro. Thusthe use of phytochemicals for desired biological effects must be handled with care due to their possible effects on reproductive physiology.