Decreased innervation of the paraurethral epithelium in stress urinary incontinent women.

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether there is a difference in the innervation of the paraurethral vaginal epithelium between stress urinary incontinent women of fertile age and comparable controls.

METHODS

Transvaginal biopsies close to the external orifice of the urethra were obtained from 11 stress urinary incontinent women and from ten comparable controls. The specimens were processed for indirect immunohistochemistry using protein gene product 9.5 (PGP 9.5) as a general neuronal marker. From each biopsy, ten randomly selected fields of 1 mm2 projected area were investigated and nerve fibre profiles were quantificated in a microscope equipped with light- and dark-field optics.

RESULTS

Nerve fibre profiles/mm2 of projected epithelial area were significantly lower in the incontinent group than in the control group (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

Our study indicates that stress urinary incontinent women have a significantly lower total innervation of the paraurethral vaginal epithelium than continent controls.