Oxytocin-induced biochemical changes in cervical mucus of the goat

The effect of oxytocin vaginal gel on vaginal atrophy in postmenopausal women: a randomized controlled trial

Background

Around 90% of postmenopausal women are suffering from vaginal atrophy. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of oxytocin vaginal gel on vaginal atrophy among postmenopausal women.

Methods

This was a randomized controlled trial that was conducted on 96 postmenopausal women who suffered from vaginal atrophy. The inclusion criteria were: literate women, age 40–60, at least 1 year passed from their last menstrual period or the level of FSH > 40 IU, monogamous women with the sexual relationship. Women in the intervention group, requested to use one applicator of 400 IU oxytocin gel per night and women in the placebo group used placebo each night. The subjective symptoms of vaginal atrophy, vaginal PH, maturation index were measured before and after the intervention.

Results

The number of superficial cells was increased significantly in the oxytocin group compared to placebo (38.7 ± 7.18 vs. 3.69 ± 2.76, p = 0.0001), while the number of parabasal cells was decreased significantly in the oxytocin compared to placebo after the intervention. The improvement of the maturation index was more dominant in the oxytocin group (increased from 7.76 ± 4.68 to 52.48 ± 7.54) in comparison to the placebo group (increased from 8.58 ± 4.35 to 13.25 ± 5.06). The PH of the vagina decreased significantly in the oxytocin group in comparison to the placebo group (p = 0.0001). After 8 weeks, 88.6 and 7.1% of women in the oxytocin and placebo groups did not show the severe symptoms of vaginal atrophy (p = 0.001).

Conclusion

The results of this study showed that eight- week intervention with oxytocin vaginal gel (400 IU) could significantly improve the vaginal maturation index, subjective symptoms of vaginal atrophy and reduce the PH of the vagina. Using this medication in women who have a contraindication for hormone therapy is recommended.

Trial registration

IRCT20160602028220N2.

Changes in the composition of cervical mucus of the cow during the estrous cycle as parameters for predicting potential fertility

Four experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that the composition of cervical mucus can be used as an indicator of reproductive efficiency in the cow. In Experiment 1, biochemical changes were studied in cervical mucus during the estrous cycle. Sorbitol concentration was observed to be highest at 1 to 3 days prior to estrus and lowest on Days 6 to 12 (P<0.001) of the estrous cycle. Cholesterol and protein concentrations were highest at Day 6 of the estrous cycle and lowest on the day of estrus (P<0.001). In Experiment 2, the relationships between the biochemical characteristics of cervical mucus and fertility were studied. It was shown that the embryo transfer recipients which exhibited a high concentration of sorbitol (>1.5 mMol/l) at 1 to 3 days before estrus; a low concentration of protein (< 2 units); and a low concentration of cholesterol (<0.1 mMol/l) on the day of estrus had a higher level of fertility than their counterparts. The predictive ability of these criteria was tested using embryo transfer recipients (n=294) in Experiment 3. Significantly more of the animals predicted to have high potential fertility became pregnant than those predicted to have low potential fertility (70.7 vs 45.6%; P<0.001). A similar difference in pregnancy rate for cows (n=56) presented for artificial insemination was observed in Experiment 4 (59.1 vs 27.2%; P<0.10). These results suggest that the composition of cervical mucus may be a useful indication of potential fertility in cattle.