Endometriosis is an estrogen-dependent disease that causes pelvic pain and
reduces fertility by developing inflammatory lesions outside the uterine. Although
many studies have been performed to investigate the etiopathogenesis of endometriosis,
there is still no direct evidence. Endometriosis, a common gynecological disease, often
recurs even if treated. In vivo studies are used to investigate its etiopathogenesis and
potential treatment methods. Hormonal therapy is generally used for endometriosis
cases. This conventional therapy aims to lower estrogen levels in the body, however, it
can be inadequate for the treatment and has numerous negative effects. The urgency of
finding novel and cheap long-term safety therapies for endometriosis is highlighted by
the need to manage it as a chronic disease. Medicinal plants and natural plant-derived
compounds are interesting options for this purpose. Indeed, there is an increasing
interest in using herbal therapy to treat endometriosis. Several studies have been
conducted on natural products to find a drug candidate for the management of the
mentioned problem. Many of these drugs have a pleiotropic action profile, meaning
they block multiple processes involved in endometriosis pathogenesis, including
proliferation, inflammation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and
angiogenesis. As a result, including them in multimodal treatment approaches may help
to improve therapeutic efficiency and reduce adverse effects in future endometriosis
treatments. Several methods have been described for the assessment of the potential
effectiveness of the bioactive agents against endometriosis. In the present chapter, we
aimed to give general information regarding endometriosis, the use of plant products in
the treatment of this disease, and the methods that have been used for the activity
investigation.
Keywords: Anti-inflammatory, Antioxidant, Bioactivity, Cell line, Endometriosis, Extract, Gynecological disease, In vivo, In vitro, Medicinal plant, Mouse, Natural products, Rat, Secondary metabolite.
