Li Dandan, Zhang Tao, Yang He, Yang Wenlan, Zhang Chi, Gao Guolan
Savaid Medical School, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China.
School of Clinical Medicine, Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou 341004, China.
Molecules. 2023 Sep 13;28(18):6605. doi: 10.3390/molecules28186605.
Atrophic vaginitis is very common in postmenopausal women due to declining estrogen levels. Vitamin D plays an important role in promoting epithelial cell proliferation, migration and adhesion. We established a rat model of ovariectomy (OVX) induced atrophic vaginitis with the aim of investigating the effects of Vitamin D supplementation on the vaginal epithelial barrier. The results showed that ovariectomised rats had significantly higher vaginal pH, reduced , significantly lower uterine and vaginal weights, and lower vaginal epithelial , , and mRNA expression compared with sham-operated rats. Vitamin D supplementation could reduce the vaginal pH, promote the proliferation and keratinization of vaginal epithelial cells, enhance the expression of mRNA in vaginal tissues, and improve the vaginal and uterine atrophy. Vitamin D can also increase the expression of E-cadherin and occludin proteins in vaginal tissues, maintain the integrity of the vaginal epithelium, increase the number of , and reduce pathogenic bacterial infections. In vitro experiments demonstrated that 1,25(OH)D could promote the proliferation and migration of VK2/E6E7 vaginal epithelial cells and increase the expression of E-cadherin protein. In conclusion, we demonstrated that Vitamin D can regulate the expression of vaginal epithelial tight junction proteins, promotes cell proliferation, and improves vaginal atrophy due to estrogen deficiency.
萎缩性阴道炎在绝经后女性中非常常见，原因是雌激素水平下降。维生素D在促进上皮细胞增殖、迁移和黏附中起重要作用。我们建立了卵巢切除（OVX）诱导的萎缩性阴道炎大鼠模型，旨在研究补充维生素D对阴道上皮屏障的影响。结果显示，与假手术大鼠相比，去卵巢大鼠的阴道pH值显著升高，阴道 、子宫和阴道重量显著降低，阴道上皮 、 及 mRNA表达降低。补充维生素D可降低阴道pH值，促进阴道上皮细胞增殖和角化，增强阴道组织中 mRNA的表达，并改善阴道和子宫萎缩。维生素D还可增加阴道组织中E-钙黏蛋白和闭合蛋白的表达，维持阴道上皮的完整性，增加 数量，并减少病原菌感染。体外实验表明，1,25(OH)D可促进VK2/E6E7阴道上皮细胞的增殖和迁移，并增加E-钙黏蛋白的表达。总之，我们证明维生素D可调节阴道上皮紧密连接蛋白的表达，促进细胞增殖，并改善雌激素缺乏引起的阴道萎缩。
