Effect of pentoxifylline on vascular endothelial growth factor C and flk-1 expression on endometrial implants in the rat endometriosis model

Nikolaos Vlahos, Nikos F Vlahos, Gregoriou O, Odysseas Gregoriou, Deliveliotou A, Aikaterini Deliveliotou, Δέσποινα Περρέα, Despoina Perrea, Perrea D, Athanasios Vlachos, Vlachos A, Zhao Y, Yulian Zhao, Joseph Lai, Joseph H. C. Lai, Lai J, George Creatsas, Creatsas G
Fertility and sterility · 2009 · vol. 93(4) , pp. 1316–1323 · doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2008.10.056 · PMID:19147132 · W1977457745
Other OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 25 in-corpus citations
🔓 Open OA copy View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

Pentoxifylline treatment reduced vascular endothelial growth factor C and flk-1 expression in endometrial implants within a rat model of endometriosis.

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

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of pentoxifylline, on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-C and flk-1 expression in the rat endometriosis model. DESIGN: Prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled study. SETTING: Academic institution. ANIMAL(S): Twenty Wistar rats with surgically induced endometriosis. INTERVENTION(S): Animals were evaluated after surgical induction of endometriosis and random allocation to a group that received pentoxifylline and a control group that received NaCl 0.9%, for 3 weeks. At the end of the treatment period the animals were killed and the implants evaluated macroscopically as well as by immunohistochemistry. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Morphologic changes of the endometriotic implants; and evaluation of VEGF-C and flk-1 expression by a semiquantitative analysis (HSCORE) for the intensity of immunohistochemical reactivity. RESULT(S): A significant reduction was observed in the mean volume of the endometriotic implants per animal in the treatment group as compared with the control group. There was a significant reduction not only in the mean volume of implants per animal but also in the mean number of implants per animal after treatment. By immunohistochemical evaluation (HSCORE), there was a significant reduction in VEGF-C expression after treatment in all areas examined. A significant reduction of flk-1 expression was also noted in the glandular compartment after treatment but not in the epithelial surface or stroma. CONCLUSION(S): Pentoxifylline may cause suppression of endometriotic lesions by suppressing angiogenesis through VEGF-C and flk-1 expression.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Disease Models, Animal Disease Models, Animal Endometriosis Endometrium Pentoxifylline Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2 Angiogenesis Inhibitors Angiogenesis Inhibitors Angiogenesis Inhibitors Animals Animals Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometrium Endometrium Endometrium Endometrium

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

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. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (51)

Cited by (25)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-10-10T06:11:15.153948+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T21:06:07.402396+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK