[Effect of Chinese herbs for nourishing shen-yin and removing xiang-fire on estrogen receptor expression in reproductive organ of rats contaminated with environmental endocrine disruptor].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effect of Chinese herbs for nourishing Shen-yin and removing Xiang-fire (NYRF) on estrogen receptor (ER) expression in uterus and ovary of rats contaminated with nonylphenol (NP) or its bisphenol A (BPA) mixture, for exploring the action mechanism of NYRF in antagonizing the estrogen-mimetic activity of environmental endocrine disruptors (EEDs).


METHODS
EEDs contaminated female SD rats, 3-week old, were divided into two groups, the treated group fed with NYRF and the control group with corn oil during the same period of contaminating for 15 days. The wet weight (WW) and organ coefficient (OC) of uterus in rats, as well as the ER protein and mRNA expressions in rat's uterus and ovary were detected and compared.


RESULTS
As compared with normal range, WW and OC increased significantly in the contaminated rats of the control group, with significantly down-regulated ER protein expression in uterus, and expressions of ER alpha and ER beta gene and protein in ovary (P<0.05). While in the treated group, the above-mentioned abnormalities of various indicators were markedly reversed to a certain extent (P<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
EEDs show estrogenic-mimetic action on productive organs, which could be antagonized by NYRF, resulting in the down-regulated mRNA and protein expressions of ER in reproductive organs, so as to reduce the sensibility of reproductive organs to EEDs, which is probably one of the acting mechanisms of NYRF.
Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Affiliate of Capital University of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100026.
Yuan-yuan
YY
Kong
Ming-yu
MY
Jiang
De-pei
DP
Cai
D000818:Animals; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D052244:Endocrine Disruptors / Q000633:toxicity*; D005260:Female; D010053:Ovary / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D014599:Uterus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*
D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D052244:Endocrine Disruptors; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen