Alterations of estrogen receptor-alpha and -beta in the anterior vaginal wall of women with urinary incontinence.
OBJECTIVE
The objective was to investigate the alterations in estrogen receptor-alpha and -beta (ER-alpha and ER-beta) in the anterior vaginal wall of women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI).


METHODS
Samples of the anterior vaginal wall were taken from 57 women, including 12 women with premenopausal SUI (pre-M SUI), 12 with premenopausal control (pre-M control), 19 with postmenopausal SUI (post-M SUI), and 14 with postmenopausal control (post-M control). The expressions of ER-alpha and ER-beta were assayed by immunohistochemistry and quantified with the H-score method.


RESULTS
Serum estradiol was significantly lower in the pre-M SUI than in the pre-M control group (P<0.01), but the difference between the post-M SUI and post-M control groups was not significant (P>0.05). ER-alpha in endothelia, smooth muscle cells, and fibrocytes were significantly lower in pre-M SUI than in pre-M control (P<0.01), but there were no significant differences of ER-alpha between the post-M SUI and post-M control groups (P>0.05). ER-beta in endothelia and fibrocytes were significantly lower in the pre-M SUI than in the pre-M control group (P<0.01), and ER-beta in fibrocytes was significantly lower in the post-M SUI than in the post-M control group (P<0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Alterations in serum estradiol and its receptors (ER-alpha and ER-beta) in the anterior vaginal wall were demonstrated, suggesting their involvement in the occurrence of female SUI.
Xie
Zhenwei
Z
Department of Gynecology, Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, 2 Xueshi Road, Hangzhou 310006, PR China.
Shi
Haiyan
H
Zhou
Caiyun
C
Dong
Minyue
M
Hong
Lihua
L
Jin
Hangmei
H
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D004958:Estradiol / Q000097:blood*; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha / Q000378:metabolism*; D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008875:Middle Aged; D032389:Myocytes, Smooth Muscle / Q000378:metabolism; D017698:Postmenopause; D017697:Premenopause; D014550:Urinary Incontinence, Stress / Q000378:metabolism*; D014621:Vagina / Q000378:metabolism*
D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha; D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta; D004958:Estradiol