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Effects of ovariectomy and steroid hormones on vaginal smooth muscle contractility

International Journal of Impotence Research volume 16, pages 43–50 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

The role of steroid hormones in regulating vaginal smooth muscle contractility was investigated. Rabbits were kept intact or ovariectomized. After 2 weeks, animals were continuously infused with vehicle or supraphysiological levels of testosterone (100 μg/day), or estradiol (200 μg/day), for an additional 2 weeks. The distal vaginal tissue was used to assess contractility in organ baths and changes in tissue structure were assessed by histology. Ovariectomized animals infused with vehicle exhibited significant atrophy of the muscularis and decreased epithelial height, resulting in thinning of the vaginal wall. Estradiol infusion increased epithelial height, comparable to that of intact animals, but only partially restored the muscularis layer. In contrast, testosterone infusion completely restored the muscularis layer, but only partially restored the epithelial height. In vaginal tissue strips contracted with norepinephrine and treated with bretylium, electrical field stimulation (EFS) caused frequency-dependent relaxation that was slightly attenuated with vehicle, significantly inhibited with estradiol and significantly enhanced with testosterone. VIP-induced relaxation was slightly attenuated in tissues from vehicle and estradiol-infused groups, but was enhanced in tissues from testosterone-infused animals. Contraction elicited by EFS or exogenous norepinephrine was not significantly altered with ovariectomy or steroid hormone infusion when data were normalized to potassium contraction. However, the tissue from testosterone-infused animals developed significantly greater contractile force to norepinephrine. These observations suggest that steroid hormones may be important regulators of vaginal tissue structure and contractility.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants DK56846 (AMT) and DK02696 (NNK) from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and by The American Foundation for Urologic Disease (RM).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    N N Kim, K Min, R Munarriz, I Goldstein & A M Traish

  2. Department of Anatomy, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    M A Pessina

  3. Department of Biochemistry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    A M Traish

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  1. N N Kim
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  2. K Min
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  3. M A Pessina
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  4. R Munarriz
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Correspondence to N N Kim.

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Kim, N., Min, K., Pessina, M. et al. Effects of ovariectomy and steroid hormones on vaginal smooth muscle contractility. Int J Impot Res 16, 43–50 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijir.3901138

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