Department of Environment, Faculty of Forestry and Environment, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Department of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Biomed Pharmacother. 2021 Aug;140:111757. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2021.111757. Epub 2021 May 25.
Numerous scientific studies have found that young women are at a high risk of reproductive infertility due to their routine exposure to numerous bisphenol A (BPA) products. This risk is highly associated with the production of reactive oxygen species from BPA products. Ficus deltoidea, which has strong antioxidant properties, was selected as a potential protective agent to counter the detrimental effects of BPA in the rat uterus.
Female Sprague-Dawley rats were allocated into four groups (n = 8) as follows: (i) the Normal Control group (NC), (ii) the BPA-exposed group (PC), (iii) the group concurrently treated with BPA and F. deltoidea (FC) and (iv) the group treated with F. deltoidea alone (F).
After 6 weeks of concurrent treatment with F. deltoidea, uterine abnormalities in the BPA-exposed rats showed a significant improvement. Specifically, the size of stromal cells increased; interstitial spaces between stromal cells expanded; the histology of the glandular epithelium and the myometrium appeared normal and mitotic figures were present. The suppressive effects of BPA on the expression levels of sex steroid receptors (ERα and ERβ) and the immunity gene C3 were significantly normalised by F. deltoidea treatment. The role of F. deltoidea as an antioxidant agent was proven by the significant reduction in malondialdehyde level in BPA-exposed rats. Moreover, in BPA-exposed rats, concurrent treatment with F. deltoidea could normalise the level of the gonadotropin hormone, which could be associated with an increase in the percentage of rats with a normal oestrous cycle.
F. deltoidea has the potential to counter the toxic effects of BPA on the female reproductive system. These protective effects might be due to the phytochemical properties of F. deltoidea. Therefore, future study is warranted to identify the bioactive components that contribute to the protective effects of F. deltoidea.
大量科学研究发现，年轻女性由于经常接触多种双酚 A（BPA）产品，存在较高的生殖不孕风险。这种风险与 BPA 产品产生的活性氧密切相关。具有较强抗氧化特性的榕属植物被选为潜在的保护剂，以对抗 BPA 对大鼠子宫的有害影响。
将雌性 Sprague-Dawley 大鼠分为四组（n=8）：（i）正常对照组（NC），（ii）BPA 暴露组（PC），（iii）同时用 BPA 和榕属植物处理组（FC），（iv）单独用榕属植物处理组（F）。
经过 6 周的榕属植物联合治疗，BPA 暴露大鼠的子宫异常情况显著改善。具体表现为基质细胞增大；基质细胞间的间质空间扩大；腺体上皮和子宫肌层的组织学表现正常，有丝分裂象存在。榕属植物处理显著逆转了 BPA 对性激素受体（ERα和 ERβ）和免疫基因 C3 的表达水平的抑制作用。榕属植物作为抗氧化剂的作用通过降低 BPA 暴露大鼠丙二醛水平得到证明。此外，在 BPA 暴露大鼠中，榕属植物联合治疗可以使促性腺激素水平正常化，这可能与正常发情周期大鼠比例增加有关。
榕属植物具有抵消 BPA 对女性生殖系统毒性作用的潜力。这些保护作用可能归因于榕属植物的植物化学特性。因此，有必要进行进一步的研究以确定榕属植物的生物活性成分，这些成分可能有助于其发挥保护作用。
