title: Proliferative behavior of vaginal fibroblasts from women with pelvic organ prolapse.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) significantly impacts quality of life of women, especially with advancing age. Cell proliferation is a critical parameter in both normal and pathophysiological processes. We sought to examine fibroblast proliferation in premenopausal women with and without POP and menopausal women with POP, and examine whether TGF-β1, a fibroblast mitogen, could stimulate proliferation in vaginal fibroblasts from these populations.
  
  
  METHODS
  Vaginal wall biopsies were obtained from asymptomatic women (controls) and women with POP (cases). Fibroblasts were cultured from these tissues. Vaginal fibroblasts were treated with or without TGF-β1. Cell proliferation rate (mitotic index) was measured with time-lapse dark-field microscopy. Cell mitosis was counted with ImageJ software after analysis of time-lapse images as Quick time movies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no significant difference in mitotic index throughout different time points of observation between premenopausal controls and cases of similar ages. However, a significant difference in mitotic index was seen between premenopausal and menopausal cases (p=0.01), with the menopausal group exhibiting significantly lower mitotic indices. When treated with different doses of TGF-β1, premenopausal control fibroblast proliferation increased with 5ng/ml of TGF-β1 compared to non-treated fibroblasts (p=0.04). TGF-β1 stimulation did not affect fibroblasts from either premenopausal or menopausal cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Vaginal fibroblast proliferation decreases with age and this association does not appear to be affected by the presence of pelvic organ prolapse. TGF-β1 stimulation increased cell proliferation of premenopausal control fibroblasts. In contrast, there was no response seen in fibroblasts from premenopausal and menopausal cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; Maternity and Children's Healthcare Hospital of Shenzhen City, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA. Electronic address: yanwen@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.affiliation: Maternity and Children's Healthcare Hospital of Shenzhen City, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Chenhong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Baer
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; Institute for Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Renee R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Pera
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Bertha
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001706:Biopsy; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008593:Menopause; D008875:Middle Aged; D056887:Pelvic Organ Prolapse / Q000473:pathology*; D017697:Premenopause; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / Q000494:pharmacology; D014621:Vagina / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1
keywords: Cell proliferation; Mitotic index; TGF-β1; Time-lapse dark-field microscopy; Vaginal fibroblasts