Objective: To assess the effect of metalloestrogen cadmium (Cd) on the proliferation of endometrial stromal cells (ESC) isolated from the eutopic endometrium of women with endometriosis Materials and Methods: ESC were isolated from eutopic endometrial samples from 10 women with endometriosis and 10 women without endometriosis. ESC cultures were established and maintained in RPMI medium. Cultures were treated with Cd at a concentration of 10 À6 M and after 24 hours and 48 hours, cell number was

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... ounted using the Neubauer hemocytometer to calculate the relative cell proliferation. At 48 hours, the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was used to test the effect of different concentrations (10 À8 M to 10 À3 M) of Cd on ESC cultures. Relative cell proliferation and MTT assay results were analyzed with ANOVA. Results: At 48 hours, Cd-induced ESC proliferation was higher ( p ¼ 0.02) in women with endometriosis than in women without endometriosis, which was confirmed by the MTT assay. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate the ability of metalloestrogen Cd to induce the proliferation of stromal cells derived from the eutopic endometrium of women with endometriosis.