Modulation of the Proliferative Pathway, Neuroinflammation and Pain in Endometriosis

Livia Interdonato, Ylenia Marino, Ramona D’Amico, Marika Cordaro, Rosalba Siracusa, Daniela Impellizzeri, Francesco Macrì, Francesco Macrı̀, Roberta Fusco, Salvatore Cuzzocrea, Rosanna Di Paola
International journal of molecular sciences · 2023 · vol. 24(14) , pp. 11741 · doi:10.3390/ijms241411741 · PMID:37511500 · W4385225640
article OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 7 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This study found that Actaea racemosa reduced endometriosis lesion size and pain by modulating proliferation, apoptosis, oxidative stress, inflammation, and neuroinflammation in an animal model.

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Abstract

Endometriosis is a chronic disease characterized by pelvic inflammation. This study aimed at investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathology and how they can be modulated by the administration of a natural compound, Actaea racemosa (AR). We employed an in vivo model of endometriosis in which rats were intraperitoneally injected with uterine fragments from donor animals. During the experiment, rats were monitored by abdominal high-frequency ultrasound analysis. AR was able to reduce the lesion’s size and histological morphology. From a molecular point of view, AR reduced hyperproliferation, as shown by Ki-67 and PCNA expression and MAPK phosphorylation. The impaired apoptosis pathway was also restored, as shown by the TUNEL assay and RT-PCR for Bax, Bcl-2, and Caspase levels. AR also has important antioxidant (reduced Nox expression, restored SOD activity and GSH levels, and reduced MPO activity and MDA levels) and anti-inflammatory (reduced cytokine levels) properties. Moreover, AR demonstrated its ability to reduce the pain-like behaviors associated with the pathology, the neuro-sensitizing mediators (c-FOS and NGF) expression, and the related central astrogliosis (GFAP expression in the spinal cord, brain cortex, and hippocampus). Overall, our data showed that AR was able to manage several pathways involved in endometriosis suppression.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Animals Animals Animals Animals Animals Animals Animals

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