Possible roles of oxytocin receptor and vasopressin-1α receptor in the pathomechanism of dysperistalsis and dysmenorrhea in patients with adenomyosis uteri

Sylvia Mechsner, Britta Grum, Grum B, Gericke C, Christine Gericke, Christoph Loddenkemper, Loddenkemper C, Joachim W. Dudenhausen, Dudenhausen JW, Ebert AD, Andreas D. Ebert
Fertility and sterility · 2010 · vol. 94(7) , pp. 2541–2546 · doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2010.03.015 · PMID:20413116 · W2068985371
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 55 in-corpus citations
🔓 Open OA copy View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-06 ⓘ

This study investigated the roles of oxytocin and vasopressin-1α receptors in the mechanisms underlying dysperistalsis and dysmenorrhea in women with adenomyosis.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

ObjectiveTo investigate the expression of oxytocin (OTR) and/or vasopressin (VP1αR) receptor in patients with and without adenomyosis uteri.DesignRetrospective nonrandomized study.SettingUniversity hospital endometriosis research center.Patient(s)Forty patients with histologically proven adenomyosis and 40 patients without adenomyosis who had undergone hysterectomy for dysmenorrhea, bleeding disorders, and fibroids.Intervention(s)Immunohistochemical examination of both OTR and VP1αR expression in endometrium, myometrium, and adenomyotic lesions, and identification of smooth muscle cells using antibodies against OTR, VP1αR, and smooth muscle actin (sm-actin).Main outcome measure(s)The immunoreactive score (IRS) was used for expression of OTR, VP1αR, and sm-actin.Result(s)Expression of OTR in epithelial cells of adenomyotic lesions and surrounding myometrial cells was detectable. VP1αR was expressed only in myometrial cells and blood vessels. Using a specific anti-sm-actin antibody, another spindle cell population was characterized to represent smooth muscle cells which are in direct contact with the adenomyotic stroma. Compared with the unaffected myometrium, the surrounding adenomyosis-associated myometrium overexpressed OTR and showed changes in morphology. In the uteri of patients with adenomyosis, the junctional zone was often seen to be quite fissured.Conclusion(s)In addition to the specific expression of VP1αR, OTR expression and morphologic changes in the myometrial architecture of uteri having adenomyosis support the hypothesis that dysperistalsis plays an essential role in the development of endometriosis and dysmenorrhea. In the near future, specific inhibition of this receptor might yield a promising treatment for therapy.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

dysmenorrheaendometriosisadenomyosis

MeSH descriptors

Dysmenorrhea Endometriosis Gastrointestinal Diseases Receptors, Oxytocin Receptors, Vasopressin Uterine Diseases Adult Case-Control Studies Dysmenorrhea Dysmenorrhea Dysmenorrhea Dysmenorrhea Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometrium Endometrium Endometrium Female Gastrointestinal Diseases

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (54)

Cited by (50)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-09-07T06:12:11.729357+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:17:12.951333+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-08-12T06:43:03.944938+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK