Preferential vascular-based transfer from vagina to the corpus but not to the tubal part of the uterus in postmenopausal women

N. Einer‐Jensen

doi:10.1093/humrep/16.7.1329

Preferential vascular-based transfer from vagina to the corpus but not to the tubal part of the uterus in postmenopausal women

N. Einer‐Jensen

In: Human Reproduction · 2001 · vol. 16(7) , pp. 1329–1333 · doi:10.1093/humrep/16.7.1329 · PMID:11425808 · W2142093523

article OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 1 in-corpus citation

📄 Open PDF View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher

⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-13 ⓘ

This study found that cold saline injected into the vagina caused significant cooling in the uterine corpus and rectum, suggesting vascular transfer, but minimal cooling in the tubal angles of the uterus in postmenopausal women.

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

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Vaginal administration of progesterone during infertility treatment has therapeutic advantages over oral administration. However, the reasons for this are poorly defined. To demonstrate a preferential vagina-to-uterus distribution of substances, we investigated cold distribution from vagina to the uterus and rectum. METHOD: In 10 postmenopausal women, thermoprobes were inserted into the uterine cavity and in the rectum at 9 cm from the anus; temperatures were subsequently measured during 10 min flushing of vagina with cold saline. RESULTS: After 10 min, temperature decreased as follows: uterus, tubal angle: -0.22 +/- 0.07 degrees C, 10 (mean +/- SEM, n); uterus, middle cavity: -1.26 +/- 0.34 degrees C, 9; rectum, 9 cm insertion: -0.51 +/- 0.19 degrees C, 6. CONCLUSIONS: Despite obviously different distances to the vagina of the uterine and the low rectal probes (<9 cm) the temperature decrease occurred at the same time. Cold transfer from vagina to the uterus and rectum is probably not the result of simple diffusion but of a vascular counter-current transfer. Differential cooling of corpus and tubal angles suggests a different arterial supply; while uterine corpus is supplied from the uterine artery, the tubal angles seem to be mainly supplied from the ovarian artery via the tubal arcade.