Abstract: Objective To analyze the effects of curcumin on the proliferation,secretion,transdifferentiation ability,and activation ofprotein kinase B（AKT）/glycogen synthase kinase-3β（GSK-3β）/β-catenin pathway in endometrial epithelial cells（EECs） induced by angiotensinⅡ（Ang Ⅱ）,and exploring the protective mechanism of curcumin on endometrial fibrosis. Methods Primary human EECs were separated and identified,and were divided into four groups based on different treatment methods：normal group,curcumin group,AngⅡgroup,and curcumin treatment group.Normal group：conventional incubation solution,curcumin group：incubation solution containing curcumin（30 μmol/L）,AngⅡ group：incubation solution containing AngⅡ（10^-6 mol/L）,curcumin treatment group：incubation solution containing AngⅡ（10^-6 mol/L） and curcumin（30 μmol/L）,each group was treated for 48 hours.The proliferation status of each group of cells was compared,and the secretion levels of type I and Ⅲ collagen in the cell culture medium were analyzed. Western blot was used to detect the protein expression level such as cell differentiation marker molecules E-cadherin and alpha smooth muscle actin（α-SMA）,AKT/GSK-3β/β-Catenin pathway molecules phosphorylated protein kinase B（p-AKT）,phosphorylated glycogen synthase kinase-3β（p-GSK-3β） and β-catenin. Results There were no statistically significant differences in cell proliferation,secretion of typeⅠand Ⅲ collagen in the incubation solution,expression levels of transdifferentiation molecules,and AKT/GSK-3β/β-catenin pathway molecules between the DHA group and the normal group（all P>0.05）.Compared with the normal group,the AngⅡgroup showed an increase in cell number（0.122±0.002）,secretion of type I collagen（0.538±0.093） and typeⅢcollagen（0.492±0.097）,as well as an increase in the expression level of transdifferen tiation marker molecules a-SMA（0.492±0.031）,AKT/GSK-3β/β-catenin pathway molecules p-AKT（1.119±0.064）,p-GSK-3β（0.904±0.057）,and β-catenin（0.121±0.002）（all P<0.05）,while the expression level of E-Cad（0.349±0.021） decreased（P<0.05）.Compared with the AngⅡ group,the curcumin treatment group showed a decrease in cell number（0.118±0.001）,a decreased in secretion of type I collagen（0.348±0.063） and typeⅢcollagen（0.306±0.063）,a decrease in the expression level of transdifferentiationmarker molecules a-SMA（0.221±0.015）,AKT/GSK-3β/β-catenin pathway molecules p-AKT（0.705±0.052）,p-GSK-3β（0.563±0.029）,and β-catenin（1.106±0.070）（all P<0.05）,while the expression level of E-Cad（0.661±0.024） increased（P<0.05）. Conclusion Curcumin can regulate AKT/GSK-3β/β-catenin pathway and inhibit EECs proliferation,secretion,and transdifferentiation induced by AngⅡ.

Key words: Curcumin, Angiotensin Ⅱ, Endometrial epithelial cells, Transdifferentiation, AKT/GSK-3β/β-catenin pathway