Increased uterine prostaglandin E receptors in menorrhagic women.

PGE receptor concentrations were measured in myometrial samples collected from 10 women at hysterectomy. Five women had normal measured menstrual blood loss (35-44 ml) and the remainder had unexplained menorrhagia occurring in the absence of any uterine, pelvic or general pathology, with losses ranging from 85 to 925 ml. Median PGE receptor concentrations were significantly higher in the women with menorrhagia (1077 fmol/mg protein) than in the women with normal menstrual blood loss (625 fmol/mg protein) and correlated with menstrual blood loss (P less than 0.02). These findings suggest that unexplained menorrhagia may simply be a constitutional variant in some women and that specific and potent PGE uterine receptor antagonists would furnish effective non-surgical treatment for unexplained menorrhagia.