Effect of mifepristone and lithospermum combination regimen on medical abortion in early pregnancy rats.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the optimal dose of mifepristone and lithospermum combination regimen on medical abortion in early pregnancy rats without increasing side effects. STUDY DESIGN: Sixty sexually mature female Sprague Dawley (SD) rats with early pregnancy were randomly allocated into 10 groups, including a control group (treated with 0.5% CMC-Na) and nine experiments (treated with 1 mg/kg mifepristone, and 90, 180, 270, and 540 mg/kg lithospermum, and 90/180/270/540 mg/kg lithospermum +1 mg/kg mifepristone, respectively). The hormone levels, factors associated with endometrial bleeding, oxidative stress, and apoptotic proteins in the endometrium, were then investigated. RESULTS: The results demonstrated that 540 mg/kg lithospermum plus 1 mg/kg mifepristone treatment significantly improved the abortion rate when compared with the control group. Compared with the 1 mg/kg mifepristone, 540 mg/kg lithospermum plus 1 mg/kg mifepristone treatment did not induce significant increase in factors associated with abnormal endometrial bleeding, such as matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP9). However, mifepristone and lithospermum combination regimen promoted the expression level of malondialdehyde (MDA), activated caspase 3, caspase 9 and Bax, meanwhile, reduced the expression of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Bcl-2. CONCLUSION: These findings provided strong evidence that mifepristone and lithospermum combination regimen can obtain satisfactory abortion effect without increasing the expression level of bleeding-related factors.