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Induction of Endometriosis in Mice: A New Model Sensitive to Estrogen
Citation:
Cummings, A. AND J. Metcalf. Induction of Endometriosis in Mice: A New Model Sensitive to Estrogen. REPRODUCTIVE TOXICOLOGY. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 9(3):233-238, (1995).
Impact/Purpose:
Endometriosis is a painful disease of women and consists of the growth of endometrial tissue outside the uterus. ur objective, which was to develop a mouse model for endometriosis, was based on three phenomena: (a) the relationship between immunodeficiency and human endometriosis; (b) the suppression of immunity by dioxin which also promotes endometriosis in monkeys; and (c) the fact that mice and not rats exhibit a suppression of immunity following dioxin exposure. hus, in order to examine the mechanisms by which dioxin promotes endometriosis, the mouse model of endometriosis was developed. his new model is an adaptation of the technique in the rat. his procedure was successful in the mouse, as judged by endometriotic sites, and proved to be hormone dependent following ovariectomy and treatment with estrone.
Description:
Endometriosis consists of the growth of endometrial tissue outside the uterus. A rat model of endometriosis is available to evaluate the potential for environmental chemicals to promote the disease but may he relatively insensitive for the evaluation of the hazard of certain compounds. Our objective, which was to develop a mouse model for endometriosis, was based on (a) the promotion of endometriosis in primates by 2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), (b) the apparent relationship between endometriosis and hmnunodeficiency, and (c) evidence that humoral immunity is suppressed in mice but not rats following TCDD exposure. In the mouse model, slices of uterus were sutured to intestinal mesenteric vessels. By 3 weeks after surgery, these sites were cyst-like structures. The growth of the sites was hormone dependent. In intact mice, sites measured 3.60 & 0.22 mm; vehicle and e&one (0.5 &day) treatments produced site diameters of 0.95 f 0.128 and 5.28 + 0.355 mm, respectively. This new mouse model provides a sensitive and useful technique for future studies of the potential for specific xenobiotics to promote the development of endometriosis.