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Berberine attenuates hyperalgesia in mice with adenomyosis

  • General Gynecology
  • Published:
Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Adenomyosis is a common gynecological disease, but its pathogenesis and treatment options are not yet completely clear. This study aimed to investigate the analgesic effect of berberine on tamoxifen-induced neonatal mouse adenomyosis and its curative effects on the disease.

Methods

The mouse adenomyosis model was established in neonatal female mice via oral administration of tamoxifen suspended solution. Adenomyosis mice were given berberine by intraperitoneal injection with the dosage of 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg body weight, respectively, at 17 weeks after birth. The pain sensation of the mice was evaluated by hotplate and tail-flick tests. The mRNA levels of gene expression were detected by RT-qPCR. The protein expression was analyzed by ELISA and Western blot.

Results

Berberine reduced the uterine weight, suppressed the myometrial infiltration of ectopic endometrium, improved the hotplate and tail-flick latency of the adenomyosis mice. Mechanistically, berberine downregulated the expression of genes related to pain and inflammation, such as TRPV1, COX-2, VEGF and OTR, impaired the inflammatory response at the DRG site, and inhibited the expression of TLR4 in DRG and uterine tissues.

Conclusions

Berberine attenuates hyperalgesia and exhibits analgesic and therapeutic effects on adenomyosis mice.

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Data availability

The data supporting the results of this article are included within the article. Further enquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Funding

This study was funded by the Basic Public Research Project of Zhejiang Province (LGF19H040014).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Bo Zhu, Yumei Chen, and Min Guo share the equal work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wenzhou People’s Hospital, 57 Canghou Lane, Lucheng District, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang, China

    Bo Zhu, Yumei Chen, Min Guo, Chenhui zhang, Lingxiao Huang, Qiangwei Pan, Tao Lin, Yiyi Lu, Xiaolu Shen & Hongping Zhang

Authors
  1. Bo Zhu
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  2. Yumei Chen
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  3. Min Guo
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  4. Chenhui zhang
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  6. Qiangwei Pan
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  7. Tao Lin
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  9. Xiaolu Shen
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  10. Hongping Zhang
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Contributions

XS project development, data collection, manuscript editing; HZ project development, data management, manuscript editing; YC, MG, CZ, LH, QP, TL, YL data collection and analysis; BZ manuscript writing and review, data analysis.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xiaolu Shen or Hongping Zhang.

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The authors declare that they have no known conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

Animal research was approved by the institutional animal care and use committee of Wenzhou People’s Hospital.

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All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Zhu, B., Chen, Y., Guo, M. et al. Berberine attenuates hyperalgesia in mice with adenomyosis. Arch Gynecol Obstet 306, 115–125 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-022-06438-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-022-06438-y

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