Expression of oxytocin receptor in patients with endometriosis and its relationship with dysmenorrhea

Objective To investigate the expression of oxytocin receptors(OTR)in the ectopic and eutopic endometrium of women with endometriosis and its relationship with dysmenorrhea.Methods Tissue specimens from endometriosis patients,including 36 specimens of ovarian chocolate cyst and 34 eutopic endometrium,were collected,as well as normal endometrium from 30 patients with other gynecological diseases as controls.Extracted protein from the specimens was used to detect the expression of OTR by Western blotting.Results The expression of OTR in endometriosis was higher than normal controls(P0.05).No difference of OTR expression was found between proliferative and secretory phases in endometriosis group(P0.05).The expression of OTR in dysmenorrhea is higher than no dysmenorrhea in endometriosis group(P0.05).Conclusions The overexpression of OTR in women with endometriosis may be one of the pathogenesis of dysmenorrhea,and it may be a new therapy target of dysmenorrhea in endometriosis in the further.