The Effects Of Hyaluronic Acid Vaginal Gel On The Vaginal Epithelium Of Ovariectomized Rats

Vaginal atrophy is a frequent complaint, especially in postmenopausalwomen. Vaginal atrophy seriously affect the quality of life for women. Themain treatment of vaginal atrophy is hormone therapy. But hormonetherapy can bring about many side effects.Objective: The focus of this study is to evaluate the role of thehyaluronic vaginal acid gel (Hyalofemme) in the vaginal epithelium ofovariectomized rats.Methods:60SD rats were randomly divided into control group (Shamovariectomy, Sham-OVX), tendency group (ovariectomy, OVX), andexperiment group (ovariectomy+Hyalofemme, OVX+Hyalofemme). Therats of OVX group and OVX+Hyalofemme group were carried outovariectomy. The rats of Sham-OVX were cut the adipose tissue whichweight the same as ovary.3days after the ovariectomy, vaginal smearswere collected until the estrus change of the rats were disappeared. Then the hyaluronic acid vaginal gel was administered local vaginal therapy tothe OVX+Hyalofemme group with cytologically confirmed vaginal atrophy.The OVX group and Sham-OVX group were given blank gel. The doseswere adjusted by animal weight according to human dosage. After dailytreatment for14days, vaginal discharge of the rats was assessed by vaginalmicroecosystem. Then, the rats were sacrificed and their vaginal and uteriwere removed. All uteri were weighted. Vaginas were fixed for histologicalevaluation. The expression of P-AKt and VEGF were detected by a westernblot in the vaginal epithelium tissue.Results:1. The uterine weight of the OVX+Hyalofemme group andthe OVX group significantly lower than the Sham-OVX group. But theuterine weight of the OVX+Hyalofemme group and the OVX group weresimilar.2. Vaginal epithelium from rats in the OVX+Hyalofemme groupwas thicker than the OVX group （p﹤0.05）；Vaginal epithelium from rats inthe OVX group was thinner than the Sham group （p﹤0.05）; Vaginalepithelium from rats in the Sham group was thicker than the OVX+Hyalofemme group （p﹤0.05）.3. In the OVX+Hyalofemme group, theultrastructural changes showed vaginal epithelial cells to be tightly packed,relatively close intercellular space, rich in desmosomes and tonofilaments,epithelial cell morphology rules and ribosomes and endoplasmic reticulumare abundant. Meanwhile, the morphology of the cell nucleus is normal. The structure of nuclear membrane is complete and clear. The Sham-OVXgroup showed similar features with the OVX+Hyalofemme group. TheOVX group showed that epithelial cells arranged loosely, intercellularspace widened, fewer desmosomes, the morphology of epithelial cell rule,ribosomes and endoplasmic reticulum rare, nuclear chromatin marginationwas seen, typical morphological changes of apoptosis can be seen.4. It wasfound that the expression in the OVX+Hyalofemme group and theSham-OVX group are similar. In the OVX group, the expression ofleukocyte esterase, β-glucuronidase and coagulase was significantlyincreased. And the expression of leukocyte esterase, β-glucuronidase andcoagulase in the Sham-OVX group was low. And the differences issignificant between the OVX group and the OVX+Hyalofemme group aswell as the OVX group and the Sham-OVX group (p﹤0.01).5. Theexpression level of P-AKt and VEGF in the OVX+Hyalofemme group andthe Sham-OVX group were similar. Compared with the OVX+Hyalofemme group and the Sham-OVX group, the expression level ofP-AKt and VEGF was significantly decreased in the OVX group.Conclusions: Hyaluronic acid vaginal gel is effective in the reversalof vaginal atrophy and is beneficial for improving vaginal microecosystemin the postmenopausal rat model. The Hyaluronic Acid Vaginal Gel canalso improve the repair capacity of the vaginal epithelium.