Abstract

The objective of this work was to investigate the significance of macrophages and IL-10 in uterus in early embryo loss (or resorption), and to elucidate the anti-abortive effect and the immunological modulation of maternal-fetal interface with quercetin and bornyl Acetate. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (0.10 μg/mouse) was injected via the tail vein in order to induce abortion in 7-day-gestation mice which received quercetin and bornyl acetate at days 4 to 7 of gestation. Levels of IL-10 in uterus supernatant were measured using enzyme-linked immuno-absorbent assay (ELISA), and uterine macrophages of each group (n=10) were detected by immunohistochemistry. The levels of IL-10 declined significantly in uterus with LPS treatment. The amount of macrophages in the uterus of LPS-induced abortion mice was much higher than that of the control mice. When quercetin and bornyl acetate were used to prevent LPS-induced abortion, the effect of quercetin combined with bornyl acetate on anti-LPS-induced abortion was more significant, and the IL-10 content was close to normal and the amount of macrophages was decreased to 16.199 ± 0.802, which was significantly different from that of LPS-induced abortion group. The decrease of IL-10 and the increase of macrophage number in the LPS-treated mice uterus were associated with the embryo loss, and quercetin and bornyl acetate has the anti-abortive effect through modulation of maternal-fetal interface immunity balance.

Key words: Embryo resorption, lipopolysaccharide, macrophages, IL-10, mice.