Alterations of estrogen receptor-alpha and -beta in the anterior vaginal wall of women with urinary incontinence.

OBJECTIVES

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).

STUDY DESIGN

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.