evaluation of cyclooxygenase-2 and prostaglandin e2 expression in endometrial tissue following 8 weeks of swimming exercise and omega-3 intake

Background and objectives: endometriosis is a chronic disease that affects approximately 10% of women of reproductive age. the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of 8 weeks of swimming exercise and omega-3 supplementation on the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (cox-2) and prostaglandin e2 (pge2) genes and serum levels of reproductive hormones in the endometrial tissue of a rat model of endometriosis.methods: in this experimental study, 30 adult wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups of healthy-control, patient-control, patient+exercise, patient+omega-3, and patient+omega-3+exercise groups. after the induction of endometriosis, the rats were subjected to 8 weeks of swimming exercise, 5 days a week as well as 2 ml/kg/body weight of omega-3. data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance and tukey post hoc test at the significance level of 0.05.results: the expression of cox-2 and pge2 as well as serum follicle-stimulating hormone (fsh), luteinizing hormone (lh), and estradiol levels were significantly higher in the patient group compared with the healthy-control group (p≤0.0001). exercise and omega-3 supplementation either separately or combined could significantly reduce the expression of both genes and serum levels of lh, fsh, and estradiol (p<0.05). this effect was more profound in the patient+exercise+omega-3 group.conclusion: the results of the present study indicate that regulating the expression of cox-2 and pge2 genes as well as serum levels of reproductive hormones through swimming exercise and omega-3 supplementation can improve endometriosis.