Histomorphometric study of the lower urogenital tract in pre- and post-menopausal women.

In this study 22 histomorphometric parameters were used to quantify the histologic changes in the vagina, trigone of the bladder, and the proximal and distal urethra of 37 women aged between 18 and 82 years. The results of this quantitative study revealed a hormonally induced, age-independent atrophy of smooth muscle in the lamina propria of the mucosa and the longitudinal part of the muscular layer in the aforementioned anatomical sites in post-menopausal women. In the lamina propria of the mucosa of the lower urogenital tract in post-menopausal women hormonally induced quantitative changes of blood vessels were not observed. Senile atrophy of smooth muscles was only observed in the deeper part of the muscular layer of the vagina and the trigone of the urinary bladder and was less prominent than the hormonally induced smooth muscle atrophy.