Effects of genistein and estrogen receptor subtype-specific agonists in ArKO mice following different administration routes.

We have scrutinized the effects of the phytoestrogen genistein and three synthetic estrogen receptor agonists, 17 alpha-ethynylestradiol (EE), propylpyrazole-triol (PPT) and diarylpropionitrile (DPN) in the completely estrogen-free background of aromatase knockout (ArKO) mice by means of two routes of substance administration: oral via diet (per os; po) or subcutaneous injection (sc) with the intention to evaluate the ArKO mice as sensitive model organism for uterotrophic assays. Additionally, we were aiming to qualitatively analyze effects resulting from oral administration path, in particular for PPT and DPN. Therefore, we analyzed the resulting uterine wet weights (UWW) and epithelial heights as physiological endpoints of function as well as the gonadotropin levels.

Long-term effects of dietary isoflavones on uterine gene expression profiles.

Isoflavones (ISOs) are bioactive food ingredients of the traditional East Asian diet and currently discussed as alternatives to classical hormone replacement therapies and for reducing the prevalence of hormone-dependent cancers. Although there are many studies on ISOs, not much is known about their long-term effects. Therefore, we performed an animal experiment analyzing the effects of three different diets: a phytoestrogen-free diet, a diet supplemented with genistein (700 microg/g diet) and an ISO-high diet (232 microg daidzein and 240 microg genistein/g) at two distinct time points, juvenile (21 days) and adult (97 days).