Effect of bioactive natural compounds on oxidative status and estrogenic activity in an in vitro experimental model of endometriosis.

BASTON JI; BILOTAS M; MECHSNER S; OLIVARES C; FERELLA L; GRUBER TM; MERESMAN G

Congreso; LXIII Reunión Conjunta de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica (SAIC), LXVI Sociedad Argentina de Inmunología (SAI) y Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Fisiología (SAFIS); 2018

Endometriosis (EDT) is a benign gynecological disease with no real effective treatment that can be administered long-term due to adverse side effects. This is one of the reasons why research has focused on natural compounds, which some beneficial effects have already been demonstrated on cancer as well as on EDT. Carnosic acid (CA) and rosmarinic acid (RA) are the most abundant bioactive compounds found in the leaves? extract of rosemary. Wogonin (WG) is a flavonoid isolated from the root of Scutellaria baicalensis, one of the fundamental herbs used in traditional chinese medicine. In previous studies we demonstrated that these compounds inhibit endometrial stromal cell proliferation. The aim of the present study was to evaluate their effect on reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, on estrogen receptor (ER) expression and on estradiol (E2) secretion in a human endometrial stromal cell line (t-HESC). For ROS detection by fluorometry, t-HESC were first stimulated with different concentrations of CA, RA or WG during 24hs. For Western blot of ERα and ELISA of E2, stimulation of the cells was done for 48hs. A strong antioxidant effect was evidenced after 50µg/ml of RA, while 80µM of WG caused a pro-oxidant effect on the cells. The only one of the three compounds that provoked a change on ERα expression was WG, causing its reduction after 48hs of 40µM and 80µM stimulation; nevertheless, WG had no effect on E2 secretion to the conditioned media. Even though apparently contradictory, RA?s antioxidant and WG?s prooxidant effect can both be beneficial in EDT treatment. Moreover, WG?s prooxidant effect and decreased ERα expression can be in part responsible for the inhibition of endometrial stromal cell proliferation previously reported. The present results are only the latest obtained in a long journey we have taken evaluating these compounds in EDT and are encouraging to continue exploring this path.