Effect of Thalidomide on Angiogenesis of Endometriosis Model in Rats

Objective To investigate the effect of thalidomide on the growth of endometrial tissue implants and angiogenesis in rats.Methods Endometriosis models of SD rats were established by transplanting an autologous fragment of endometrial tissue onto the inner surface of the abdominal wall.After three weeks,the size of each implant was measured by laparotomy,and animals were randomly divided into 6 groups that were treated with normal saline(model control),gestrinone 0.5mg·kg-1·d-1,thalidomide 5mg·kg-1·d-1(low-dose thalidomide),thalidomide 20mg·kg-1·d-1(middle-dose thalidomide),thalidomide 40mg·kg-1·d-1(high-dose thalidomide),gestrinone 0.5mg·kg-1·d-1 and thalidomide 20mg·kg-1·d-1(drug combination),respectively.Four weeks later rats were killed.Ectopic uterine tissues were measured again and evaluated morphologically and histologically.MVD was immunohistochemically determined by immunostaining for factor Ⅷ.Results The volume of grafts in all treatment groups was significantly reduced in comparison with that in the model control group(P0.05),accompanied by various degree of atrophy in the ectopic endometrial and obvious reduction of glands under microscopic observation.The MVD in the treatment groups were significantly lower compared with those in control group(P0.05) and with the lowest in HTHD group.Conclusion The thalidomide could cure the rats with endometriosis,and the therapeutic mechanism may be related to inhibition effect of the angiogenesis.