Biomedical Research

Background: Intrauterine adhesions (IUA) remain a major cause of infertility. The prevalence of IUA varies geographically and keeps increasing over the last few decades due to increased hysteroscopic surgeries. Therefore, IUA management has received considerable attention. However, the management of IUAs still presents a big challenge: the recurrence rate could be up to 62.5% in severe IUAs. Intrauterine adhesion (IUA) occurs as a result of endometrial destruction by surgical interventions or infection causing obliteration of uterine cavity by the adhesions which interfere with embryonic implantation. Sub endometrial fibrosis may occurs, which causes narrowing of uterine cavity so no enough space for fetal growth. This leads to recurrent abortion.

Aim: We aim in this experiment to apply a method for two models of IUA and or fibrosis by intrauterine injections of two different doses of trichloroacetic acid.

Method: This experimental study was performed on 30 albino adult rats which were divided into three groups (n=10 rats/group) as follows, group 1: normal control rats, group 2: induced IUA and/or fibrosis that received low dose trichloroacetic acid, group 3: induced fibrosis that received high dose trichloroacetic acid, the extent of fibrosis, vascularization and inflammation were evaluated by; qRTPCR for IL-6, TNF, VEGF and TG-β immunohistochemistry examination for VEGF and TGF-β and histological assessment.

Results: We found significant increase in IL-6, TNF and TGF in high dose group and significant decrease in VEGF in high dose group compared to normal group and low dose group (p<0.05).

Discussion: The reproductive cells are the most sensitive to toxic environmental materials. In this study, we found that group II rats (IUAs), unlike control rats, had impaired endometrial epithelial cells, a lower number of endometrial glands, higher inflammatory cell infiltration, poor vascularity, and a severe narrowing of the uterine cavity with dense endometrial fibrosis as confirmed by H&E and Masson’s trichrome staining.

Author(s): Dina Sabry, Abeer Mostafa, Dina Mekawey, Zeinab Altaib, Ashraf Shamaa, Ayman Hany, Dalia M. Abd El Hassib, Noha E. Ibrahim, Warda A. Khalifa
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