Dose-relationship of Vaginally Administrated Oxytocin in Postmenopausal Women
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2013-01-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Up to 50% of all postmenopausal women, experience vaginal drynes, i.e. vaginal atrophy is a
consequence due to the lack of estrogen. In addition, vaginal atrophy is associated with an
increased pH, which creates an environment more susceptible to infections . The mucosal
epithelium shows signs of severe senile atrophy and cytological examination demonstrate
increased number of the basal and parabasal cells and reduced number of superficial cells .
Unlike some other menopausal symptoms (for instance hot flushes), vaginal symptoms generally
persist or worsen with aging.Oxytocin is a peptide hormone and it is released systemically
via the posterior pituitary. The most well known effects of oxytocin are its roles in female
reproduction such as facilitation of birth and breast feeding. Oxytocin has also shown to
exert positive effects on the proliferation of human vaginal mucosal cells from
postmenopausal women, an effect which could be attributed either to the direct stimulation of
new cell formation or to an increased production of other growth factors. The primary
objective is to investigate the dose relationsship of topical administrated Vagitocin on the
vaginal mucosal membrane, measured in the change (%)of superficial cells up to 7 weeks after
baseline.