Immunotoxicity of TCDD on development of endometriosis in mouse model

Objective To investigate the immunotoxicity effect of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin(TCDD) on development of endometriosis in a mouse model.Methods The endometriosis mouse model was established with autotransplantation of endometrium.Twenty-one days prior to induction surgery for endometriosis,female mice were pretreated with TCDD in a dose of 0,1,3 or 10 μg/kg.Animals were killed on the 3rd,6th or 9th week following surgery for measuring diameter of ectopic focuses,weighting the thymus gland and detecting IL-1β mRNA expression in ectopic focuses by RT-PCR assay.Results The ectopic focuses in the controlled mice were gradually atrophied and disappeared,which in TCDD-treated mice were enlarged in a time-and dose-dependent manner(P0.05).Compared with control mice,the organ coefficient of the thymus gland in TCDD-treated mice showed a time-and dose-dependent decrease(P0.05),which was negatively correlated with the mass of the thymus gland(P0.05).Compared with control mice,IL-1β mRNA expression in TCDD-treated mice was up-regulated time-and dose-dependently(P0.01).Conclusion TCDD can promote progression of ectopic focus of endometriosis in the mouse model,which may be related to its general and local immunotoxicity.