Study On The Effect Of Apios Americana On The Postpartum Uterine Involution In The Rats

Significant physiological changes occur in the body through whole pregnancy,especially the size and condition of uterus.After delivery,the uterus begins remodeling to return to pre-pregnancy size and condition through the process of “uterine involution.” However,impaired tissue processes may lead to gy-necological complications,such as post-partum hemorrhage,retention of the lochia and infections.About 830 women die every day from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth.With the release of a series of policies such as “Comprehensive Two Children” and “Healthy China 2030”,postpartum care will become an important area.Postpartum care,especially the uterine involution,the main treatment methods are surgery,western medicine,Chinese herbal medicine,etc.,but the treatment mainly focus on the period of postpartum stage or treatment for a specific aspect,such as reducing bleeding,reducing inflammation.Food for Special Medical Purposes(FSMP)of postpartum recovery have not been reported.So,developing long-term,safe FSMP of postpartum repair,especially for uterine involution,is imperative.As an important part of the Native American diet,Apios Americana has high protein content,high starch quality,and contains a variety of fatty acids and minerals.In addition,it contains many bioactive substances such as isoflavones and saponins.Related studies have shown that Apios and its extracts have anti-oxidation,anti-cancer,anti-inflammatory,antihypertensive,hypoglycemic and immune-enhancing activities.Apios has a history of being a supplement for postpartum care in Japan.Therefore,it is of great significance to study the regulation of Apios Americana on postpartum recovery,especially the uterine involution.This research also laid a theoretical foundation for the development of FSMP based on Apios for postpartum recovery.In this paper,the postpartum rat was used as the model,and the tuber powder of Apios Americana was used to intervene during different period of postpartum or throughout pregnancy to comprehensively evaluate the effect of Apios on uterine involution in postpartum rats.The following results were obtained:1.Postpartum intervention experiment: Postpartum SD rats were used as models.After feeding basal diet containing 10%,20% and 40% Apios respectively in 5 days postpartum,it was found that postpartum intervention of Apios did not affect the body weight and food intake of the rats.Both the spleen index and the spleen index were reduced,close to the blank group.Estrogen levels in serum increased,progesterone,tumor necrosis factor alpha,interleukin,immunoglobulin levels decreased,the level of transforming growth factors were regulated.The morphology of the uterus tended to return to normal,the thickness of the endometrium increased,the gland increased,the degree of vascular transparency was reduced,and the proliferation rate of the endometrium was slowed down.The levels of MMP9,MMP2,proMMP2,MMP7,MMP13 and MMP14 in the uterus decreased,the level of TIMP-1 increased,so the MMPs/TIMP system rebalanced.2.Whole pregnancy intervention experiment: Postpartum SD rats as a model,after feeding basal diet containing 10%,20% and 40% Apios respectively from the 0th day of pregnancy until 5 days after delivery,found that the full pregnancy intervention of Apios also did not affect body weight and food intake of the rats.Compared with postpartum intervention,the uterus index and spleen index were significantly lower in the low and medium doses of Apios treatment.Estrogen levels in serum increased,with a significant dose-effect relationship,which was better than postpartum intervention.The levels of progesterone,pro-inflammatory factors and immunoglobulins are also reduced,some of which are more reduced,such as IL-1,IgA.At the same time,the levels of transforming growth factors were improved.Compared with postpartum intervention,not only the morphology of the uterus tended to return to normal,the thickness of the endometrium increased,the gland increased,the slowing of proliferation,but also the infiltration of inflammatory cells can be significantly alleviated.The levels of MMP9,MMP2,proMMP2,MMP7,MMP13 and MMP14 in the uterus were also decreased,TIMP-1 levels increased.In addition,the expression of estrogen receptors in the uterus is increased.Therefore,compared with postpartum intervention,full pregnancy intervention can better promote postpartum uterine involution.3.Transcriptome analysis of the uterus of rats between the postpartum model group and Apios intervention in the high-treatment group.The genes affected by the intervention of Apios in the whole pregnancy involved biological processes including glycolipid metabolism,immune correlation,cell cycle,gene information processing,signal and cell processes,and digestive system.