Immunohistochemical evidence of estrogen and progesterone receptors in the female lower urinary tract and comparison with the vagina.

Tissue biopsies from the lower urinary tract and the vagina were obtained from 51 and 45 women, respectively, during incontinence surgery or other gynecological operation procedures in order to calculate hormone receptor content. We compared the results between premenopausal, postmenopausal patients with and those without hormonal treatment. Utilizing the enzyme immunohistochemical assay we were able to demonstrate nuclear estrogen and progesterone receptors in the smooth muscle of the trigone and the posterior part of the bladder neck. But only in about 50% of the patients receptor proteins were detected in the frozen thin sections of these tissues. Biopsies from the anterior part of the bladder neck and the bladder vault were never receptor positive. In the vagina the rate of receptor-positive tissues was about 80%; in comparison, a smaller number of patients had receptor-positive cells in the bladder. From 29 patients we obtained specimens from the trigone and the vagina as well. The correlation of receptor-positive and -negative tissues of both organs was only 66%. Thus tissue biopsies obtained from the vagina only are not sufficient to discuss the probability of hormonal influence of the lower urinary tract.