Gratzke Christian, Jarajapu Yagna P R, Christ George J, Kaplan Jay R, Williams J Koudy, Andersson Karl-Erik, Badlani Gopal
Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, USA.
J Urol. 2008 Nov;180(5):2247-53. doi: 10.1016/j.juro.2008.07.021. Epub 2008 Sep 20.
Agonistic effects of estrogen on the female urethra include an increase in contractile function, blood flow and mucosal hyperplasia. Whether such effects can be achieved by soy based phytoestrogen diets is unclear. We studied the effects of chronic phytoestrogen treatment on the structural and functional properties of the urethra in ovariectomized monkeys.
Following ovariectomy 18 monkeys were fed a diet containing soy (9) or casein (9) based protein for 32 months. At necropsy the urethra and bladder were removed and the urethra was separated into 3 segments of equal length, including a proximal, a middle and a distal segment. Each urethral segment and 1 bladder segment was tested in vitro for functional responses to electrical field stimulation and pharmacological stimulation, and the proximal to distal segments were tested for urothelial thickness and mucosal area.
Electrical field stimulation produced frequency dependent contractile responses in the bladder, proximal and middle segments but not in the distal segment. Carbachol, phenylephrine and endothelin-1 produced concentration dependent contractions in all urethral segments. The maximum response decreased from the proximal to the distal segment (p </=0.05). The maximum response in the proximal and bladder segments to pharmacological stimulation and electrical field stimulation as well as mucosal area and urothelial thickness were significantly higher in the treatment than in the control group (p < or =0.05).
Chronic phytoestrogen treatment results in increased responsiveness of the proximal urethra to pharmacological and electrical stimulation, which is associated with an increase in urothelial thickness and mucosal area. This study indicates that dietary soy may have estrogen agonist effects on the urethra and bladder in estrogen deficient females.
雌激素对女性尿道的激动效应包括收缩功能增强、血流量增加和黏膜增生。基于大豆的植物雌激素饮食是否能产生这些效应尚不清楚。我们研究了长期植物雌激素治疗对去卵巢猴子尿道结构和功能特性的影响。
18只猴子去卵巢后，分别给予含大豆蛋白（9只）或酪蛋白（9只）的饮食32个月。尸检时取出尿道和膀胱，将尿道等分为3段，包括近端、中段和远端。对每个尿道段和1个膀胱段进行体外电场刺激和药理刺激的功能反应测试，并检测近端至远端段的尿路上皮厚度和黏膜面积。
电场刺激在膀胱、近端和中段产生频率依赖性收缩反应，但在远端段未产生。卡巴胆碱、去氧肾上腺素和内皮素-1在所有尿道段均产生浓度依赖性收缩。最大反应从近端到远端段逐渐降低（p≤0.05）。治疗组近端和膀胱段对药理刺激和电场刺激的最大反应以及黏膜面积和尿路上皮厚度均显著高于对照组（p≤0.05）。
长期植物雌激素治疗导致近端尿道对药理和电刺激的反应性增加，这与尿路上皮厚度和黏膜面积增加有关。本研究表明，饮食中的大豆可能对雌激素缺乏女性的尿道和膀胱具有雌激素激动效应。
