CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Endometriosis is a benign gynecological disease that affects approximately 6-15% of women during their reproductive age. Endometriosis is characterized by the presence of endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity. Current pharmacological treatments are inefficient and have several adverse effects that disable long-term administration, allowing disease recurrence. In recent years, we have focused on investigating plant-derived agents as natural treatment options, which represent a promising option to provide to patients suffering from a chronic disease such as endometriosis, due to their low or no side effects. Among them, we studied the effect of the major active compounds of rosemary: carnosic acid (CA) and rosmarinic acid (RA). In the present study, we have proposed to work with a complete rosemary extract, studying the synergistic action of all its components. This rosemary extract is known to contain several phytochemical compounds with proven anti-oxidant, anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory properties. Our objective was to characterize the polyphenolic composition of a rosemary extract by assessing the content of CA and RA; and to evaluate its effects on the viability of two human endometrial cell lines, a stromal one (t-HESC) and an epithelial one (ECC-1). The extract was diluted in DMSO and characterized by semi-preparative high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), using appropriates CA and RA standards. Cell viability was evaluated by WST-1 colorimetric assay after 24 h of stimulation with different concentrations of extract (4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 17 and 25 mg/ml). The HPLC results showed that the studied extract contains 60% AR; 25% terpenes unknown so far and 15% CA. Furthermore, the extract significantly inhibited ECC-1 cell viability starting from the 5 mg/ml dose (p