The Combination of N‐Acetyl Cysteine, Alpha‐Lipoic Acid, and Bromelain Shows High Anti‐Inflammatory Properties in Novel In Vivo and In Vitro Models of Endometriosis

C Agostinis, Chiara Agostinis, S Zorzet, Sonia Zorzet, R De Leo, G Zauli, Giorgio Zauli, F De Seta, Francesco De Seta, R Bulla, Roberta Bulla
Mediators of inflammation · 2015 · vol. 2015(1) , pp. 918089 · doi:10.1155/2015/918089 · PMID:25960622 · W1974807637
article OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 23 in-corpus citations
📄 Open PDF View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This study evaluated the anti-inflammatory and pro-apoptotic effects of N-acetyl cysteine, alpha-lipoic acid, and bromelain on endometriotic cells and a novel mouse model, finding reduced inflammation and apoptosis in diseased cells and smaller endometriotic implants.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

To evaluate the efficacy of an association of N-acetyl cystein, alpha-lipoic acid, and bromelain (NAC/LA/Br) in the treatment of endometriosis we set up a new in vivo murine model. We explored the anti-inflammatory and proapoptotic effect of this combination on human endometriotic endothelial cells (EECs) and on endothelial cells isolated from normal uterus (UtMECs). We implanted fragments of human endometriotic cysts intraperitoneally into SCID mice to evaluate the efficacy of NAC/LA/Br treatment. UtMECs and EECs, untreated or treated with NAC/LA/Br, were activated with the proinflammatory stimulus TNF-α and their response in terms of VCAM1 expression was evaluated. The proapoptotic effect of higher doses of NAC/LA/Br on UtMECs and EECs was measured with a fluorogenic substrate for activated caspases 3 and 7. The preincubation of EECs with NAC/LA/Br prior to cell stimulation with TNF-α prevents the upregulation of the expression of the inflammatory "marker" VCAM1. Furthermore NAC/LA/Br were able to induce EEC, but not UtMEC, apoptosis. Finally, the novel mouse model allowed us to demonstrate that mice treated with NAC/LA/Br presented a lower number of cysts, smaller in size, compared to untreated mice. Our findings suggest that these dietary supplements may have potential therapeutic uses in the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases like endometriosis.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Acetylcysteine Anti-Inflammatory Agents Bromelains Endometriosis Thioctic Acid Acetylcysteine Animals Anti-Inflammatory Agents Apoptosis Bromelains Cells, Cultured Disease Models, Animal Endometriosis Endothelial Cells Endothelial Cells Female Humans Inflammation Inflammation Mice

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (36)

Cited by (23)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-04T01:30:01.192114+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-04T00:00:01.174412+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:17:52.213533+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK