Activity Methods for Endometriosis

Abstract

Endometriosis is an estrogen-dependent disease that causes pelvic pain and reduces fertility by developing inflammatory lesions outside the uterine. Although many studies have been performed to investigate the etiopathogenesis of endometriosis, there is still no direct evidence. Endometriosis, a common gynecological disease, often recurs even if treated. In vivo studies are used to investigate its etiopathogenesis and potential treatment methods. Hormonal therapy is generally used for endometriosis cases. This conventional therapy aims to lower estrogen levels in the body, however, it can be inadequate for the treatment and has numerous negative effects. The urgency of finding novel and cheap long-term safety therapies for endometriosis is highlighted by the need to manage it as a chronic disease. Medicinal plants and natural plant-derived compounds are interesting options for this purpose. Indeed, there is an increasing interest in using herbal therapy to treat endometriosis. Several studies have been conducted on natural products to find a drug candidate for the management of the mentioned problem. Many of these drugs have a pleiotropic action profile, meaning they block multiple processes involved in endometriosis pathogenesis, including proliferation, inflammation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and angiogenesis. As a result, including them in multimodal treatment approaches may help to improve therapeutic efficiency and reduce adverse effects in future endometriosis treatments. Several methods have been described for the assessment of the potential effectiveness of the bioactive agents against endometriosis. In the present chapter, we aimed to give general information regarding endometriosis, the use of plant products in the treatment of this disease, and the methods that have been used for the activity investigation.