ABSTRACT
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a heterogeneous endocrine disorder, which is characterized by hyperandrogenism, insulin resistance and chronic anovulation, and has become a serious threat to the health of adolescents and women of childbearing age.At present,lowering androgen, improving insulin resistance and inducing ovulation are the main methods adopted by doctors to treat the disease, but the adverse reactions of the western medicine and the long-term treatment are hard to be accepted by the patients. PCOS treated by traditional Chinese medicine has achieved a certain effect in recent years.Traditional Chinese medicine is relatively safe and has more effect in many links and targets in improving the symptom of endocrine and metabolic disorder in patients with PCOS. This paper expounds the traditional Chinese medicine pathogenesis of PCOS through clinical and experimental aspects of the literature research：correcting endocrine hormone disorder,the effects of the expression of gene and regulatory factors,improving insulin resistance,correcting lipid metabolic disorder,improving the pregnancy outcome and improving ovarian morphology to summarize the treatment of traditional Chinese medicine in PCOS research results in recent years.
ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the molecular mechanism of dutasteride inhibiting fertility by studying its effects on the expressions of the epididymal epithelial junction proteins Claudin1 and β-catenin in rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixteen 3-month-old SD male rats were equally divided into an experimental and a negative control group to be treated intragastrically with dutasteride at 40 mg/kg per day and the same dose of solvent, respectively, for 14 consecutive days. Then, the sperm motility and morphology of the rats were detected by computer-assisted sperm analysis, the serum levels of testosterone (T) and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) measured by ELISA, changes in the tight junction of epididymal cells observed under the transmission electron microscope, the protein and gene expressions of Claudin1 and β-catenin determined by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry, and the conception rate of the mated female rats calculated.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Dutasteride significantly suppressed the serum DHT level, sperm motility, and fertility of the rats (P <0.05). Interspaces between epididymal epithelial cell tight junctions were observed, the volume of epididymal fluid obviously increased, and the expressions of Claudin1 and β-catenin gene and protein remarkably downregulated in the experimental rats (P <0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Dutasteride can significantly inhibit the fertility of male rats by reducing the serum DHT level, suppressing Claudin1 and β-catenin expressions, and damaging epididymal epithelial cell junctions.</p>