From Genes to Healing: The Protective Mechanisms of Poria cocos Polysaccharide in Endometrial Health

The aim of this study is to investigate the therapeutic effect of Poria cocos polysaccharide (PCP) on bovine endometritis. Initially, an inflammation model was induced using LPS-treated bovine endometrial epithelial cells (BEND) to identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the control and LPS groups by transcriptome sequencing, and GO functional annotation and KEGG enrichment analysis were performed. Subsequently, the mechanism of PCP treatment for endometritis was further evaluated using protein immunoblotting and real-time fluorescence quantitative analysis. Finally, the efficacy of PCP in treating endometritis was evaluated using a rat model of endometritis established with a mixed bacterial infection. The results show that transcriptome sequencing identified 4367 DEGs, with enrichment analysis highlighting the primary influences on the cell cycle and apoptosis signaling pathways. Following treatment of BEND with LPS resulted in cell apoptosis and inflammatory response. However, the introduction of PCP intervention significantly inhibited the progression of apoptosis and inflammation. Animal test results indicate that PCP significantly decreases the levels of serum inflammatory in rats suffering from endometritis and enhances antioxidant capacity. Furthermore, it effectively improved uterine swelling and tissue vacuolization caused by bacterial infection. These findings suggest that PCP could alleviate endometritis by modulating the inflammatory response and suppressing cell apoptosis. Poria cocos polysaccharides demonstrate significant potential for applications in immune modulation, anti-inflammatory responses, and antioxidant activities. Their high safety profile makes them suitable candidates as alternative therapeutic agents for the treatment of endometritis in the veterinary field.