Alujevic Jakus I, et al. – In this study, researchers analyze if pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is related to an altered expression of mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes. These outcomes demonstrate that there is a reduced quantity of the smooth muscle and a decreased expression of mitochondrial markers in the vaginal wall of women with prolapse proposing their possible role in the pathogenesis of POP.

Methods

• For this study, they collected samples of vaginal tissue from 16 postmenopausal women.
• Out of these 16 postmenopausal women, 10 had POP and 6 had other forms of the benign gynecological disease.
• Using western blot, samples were examined to evaluate the expression of mitochondrial proteins including citrate synthase (CS), individual complexes of the mitochondrial respiratory chain and alpha smooth muscle actin (SMA).

Results

• The current study showed that a significantly reduced expression of SMA and complex II in vaginal tissue of women with POP was found, compared to the control group (p < 0.05), with a tendency for a reduced expression of CS (p = 0.06) and other complexes in the POP group.