Elevated Systemic Levels of Endocannabinoids and Related Mediators Across the Menstrual Cycle in Women With Endometriosis

Ana M. Sánchez, Ana Maria Sanchez, Raffaella Cioffi, Paola Viganò, Massimo Candiani, Roberta Verde, Fabiana Piscitelli, Vincenzo Di Marzo, Elisabetta Garavaglia, Paola Panina‐Bordignon, Paola Panina-Bordignon
Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2016 · vol. 23(8) , pp. 1071–1079 · doi:10.1177/1933719116630414 · PMID:26887427 · W2403471302
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 38 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06+body, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

Women with endometriosis exhibited elevated plasma levels of AEA, 2-AG, and OEA, and lower local CB1 expression in the secretory phase compared to controls.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This study measured systemic plasma levels of endocannabinoids (AEA, 2-AG) and related mediators (OEA, PEA), along with endometrial stromal cell expression of receptors (CB1, CB2, TRPV1) and enzymes for endocannabinoid synthesis (NAPE-PLD) and degradation (FAAH), in women with laparoscopically diagnosed endometriosis (n=27) versus controls without endometrial pathology (n=29), with sampling across menstrual cycle phases. It found that in the secretory phase, circulating AEA, 2-AG, and OEA were elevated in endometriosis versus controls, while CB1 expression in secretory phase stromal cells was higher in controls than in endometriosis; CB2, TRPV1, NAPE-PLD, and FAAH showed similar expression between groups. Associations with symptoms were observed in which women with moderate-to-severe dysmenorrhea and dyspareunia had higher AEA and PEA levels than those with low-to-moderate pain. The authors note these are preliminary data, and the findings were based on cross-sectional measures and limited sample size, with mechanistic interpretation framed as a possible negative feedback loop affecting pain control. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it profiles elevated systemic endocannabinoid-related mediators across the menstrual cycle and links them to endometriosis-associated pain.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Arachidonic Acids Endocannabinoids Endometriosis Ethanolamines Glycerides Menstrual Cycle Oleic Acids Palmitic Acids Adult Amides Amidohydrolases Amidohydrolases Arachidonic Acids Endocannabinoids Endometriosis Ethanolamines Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolases Female Glycerides Humans

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