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Beyond Antibiotics: Traditional Chinese Medicine and Flavonoids in the Management of Endometritis

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Endometritis-inflammation of the endometrial lining-imposes a substantial reproductive and economic burden in both human gynecology and livestock production, where it is a leading cause of recurrent implantation failure in humans and the costliest reproductive disorder in cattle. Conventional management is overwhelmingly antibiotic-based, yet escalating antimicrobial resistance, tissue and milk residues, microbiota disruption and high relapse rates have eroded its efficacy and acceptability, creating an urgent need for mechanism-based, host-directed alternatives. Here we synthesize the expanding evidence positioning dietary flavonoids and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulations as such interventions. Across diverse compounds and preparations, anti-endometriotic activity converges on a tractable set of molecular nodes: TLR4/NF-κB signaling, the NLRP3 inflammasome-pyroptosis axis, the Keap1/Nrf2/HO-1 antioxidant program, PI3K/AKT and PPAR-γ signaling, ferroptosis, and the gut-uterus microbial-metabolite axis. Veterinary field studies report cure rates and fertility outcomes rivaling first-line antibiotics, while integrative case reports show benefit in antibiotic-refractory human chronic endometritis. Translation remains constrained by poor bioavailability, formulation heterogeneity, over-reliance on lipopolysaccharide-only models and a scarcity of randomized trials-barriers now addressable through nanocarrier delivery, network-pharmacology-guided standardization and biomarker-stratified designs. Flavonoids and TCM are best viewed not as substitutes for antibiotics but as a mechanistically rational, multi-target strategy aligned with One Health antimicrobial stewardship.

Source: Veterinary Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/vetsci13070635