Intraperitoneal administration of activin A promotes development of endometriotic lesions in a mouse model of endometriosis

PURPOSE : This study aimed to investigate the effect of intraperitoneal administration of activin on the occurrence of endometriosis using a mouse model of endometriosis. METHODS : A mouse model of endometriosis was prepared by intraperitoneally administering endometrial tissue and blood collected from donor mice to C57BL/6J 7-8- week-old recipient mice. A total of 400 μg of activin A was intraperitoneally administered to model mice in the activin group for 5 days. Intraperitoneal endometriotic lesions were confirmed macroscopically and IL-6 and TNF-α levels in washed ascites were measured by ELISA. RESULTS : Endometriotic lesions were observed in all mice. In the activin group, the maximum diameter of endometriotic lesions was significantly larger than that in control group (4.7±1.3 vs 2.9±0.9 mm, p<0.01). The total area of the lesion was also significantly higher in the activin group than in the control group (21.1±9.9 vs 8.8±5.4 mm2, p<0.01). Furthermore, IL-6 and TNF-α levels in ascites were significantly higher in the activin group than in the control group (IL-6 : 85.8±15.3 vs 75.1±19.3 pg/ml, p<0.05 ; TNF-α : 629.8±15.4 vs 605.9±11.4 pg/ml, p<0.05). CONCLUSION : Activin promotes occurrence of endometriosis. Inflammatory cytokines are also elevated by activin administration,suggesting that they may contribute to progression of endometriosis

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本論文は，著者Kana Kasaiの学位論文として提出され，学位審査・授与の対象となっている。