Research Article The Effects and Possible Mechanisms of Puerarin to Treat Endometriosis Model Rats

Copyright © 2015 Jin Yu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objective. To explore the effects of puerarin to treat endometriosis (EMT) model rats and the possible regulatory mechanisms. Methods. EMTmodel rats were surgically induced by autotransplantion of endometrial tissues.The appropriate dosage of puerarin to treat EMT model rats was determined by observing the pathologic morphology of ectopic endometrial tissues and by detecting the levels of estradiol (E2) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) of both serum and ectopic endometrial tissues. The related genes and proteins of ectopic endometrial tissues were analyzed by Real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry (IHC) to explore the possible mechanisms. Results. Puerarin could reduce the levels of E2 and PGE2 and prevent the growth of ectopic endometrium tissues by inhibiting the expression of aromatase cytochrome P450 (p450arom) and cyclooxygenase-2 (cox-2); puerarin could adjust the anabolism of E2 by upregulating the expression of 17