Mahapatra Chitaranjan, Kumar Ravinder
Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.
Paris Saclay Institute of Neuroscience, 91440 Saclay, France.
Pathophysiology. 2024 May 14;31(2):225-243. doi: 10.3390/pathophysiology31020018.
The vagina is an essential component of the female reproductive system and is responsible for providing female sexual satisfaction. Vaginal smooth muscle contraction plays a crucial role in various physiological processes, including sexual arousal, childbirth, and urinary continence. In pathophysiological conditions, such as pelvic floor disorders, aberrations in vaginal smooth muscle function can lead to urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. A set of cellular and sub-cellular physiological mechanisms regulates the contractile properties of the vaginal smooth muscle cells. Calcium influx is a crucial determinant of smooth muscle contraction, facilitated through voltage-dependent calcium channels and calcium release from intracellular stores. Comprehensive reviews on smooth muscle biophysics are relatively scarce within the scientific literature, likely due to the complexity and specialized nature of the topic. The objective of this review is to provide a comprehensive description of alterations in the cellular physiology of vaginal smooth muscle contraction. The benefit associated with this particular approach is that conducting a comprehensive examination of the cellular mechanisms underlying contractile activation will enable the creation of more targeted therapeutic agents to control vaginal contraction disorders.
阴道是女性生殖系统的重要组成部分，负责提供女性性满足感。阴道平滑肌收缩在包括性唤起、分娩和尿失禁在内的各种生理过程中起着关键作用。在病理生理状况下，如盆底功能障碍，阴道平滑肌功能异常可导致尿失禁和盆腔器官脱垂。一系列细胞和亚细胞生理机制调节阴道平滑肌细胞的收缩特性。钙内流是平滑肌收缩的关键决定因素，通过电压依赖性钙通道和细胞内钙库释放钙来实现。科学文献中关于平滑肌生物物理学的综合综述相对较少，这可能是由于该主题的复杂性和专业性。本综述的目的是全面描述阴道平滑肌收缩细胞生理学的改变。这种特定方法的好处在于，对收缩激活的细胞机制进行全面研究将有助于开发更具针对性的治疗药物来控制阴道收缩障碍。
