Morphometric analysis of the urethra of castrated female rats treated with tamoxifen

dos Santos, Alesse Ribeiro; Lopes-Costa, Pedro Vitor; de Castro, Júlio César Dias; Campos, Igor Cardoso; Borges, Rafael Soares; Pires, Cleicilene Gomes; Drumond, Karina Oliveira; Alencar, Airlane Pereira; da Silva, Benedito Borges

doi:10.1016/j.maturitas.2008.02.010

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Volume 59, Issue 3 , Pages 275-280, 20 March 2008

Morphometric analysis of the urethra of castrated female rats treated with tamoxifen

Alesse Ribeiro dos Santos
- Department of Gynecology, Federal University of Piauí, Teresina, Piauí, Brazil
Pedro Vitor Lopes-Costa
- Department of Gynecology, Federal University of Piauí, Teresina, Piauí, Brazil
Júlio César Dias de Castro
- Department of Gynecology, Federal University of Piauí, Teresina, Piauí, Brazil
Igor Cardoso Campos
- Department of Gynecology, Federal University of Piauí, Teresina, Piauí, Brazil
Rafael Soares Borges
- Department of Gynecology, Federal University of Piauí, Teresina, Piauí, Brazil
Cleicilene Gomes Pires
- Department of Gynecology, Federal University of Piauí, Teresina, Piauí, Brazil
Karina Oliveira Drumond
- School of Veterinary Medicine, Federal University of Piauí, Teresina, Piauí, Brazil
Airlane Pereira Alencar
- Department of Statistics, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Benedito Borges da Silva
- Department of Gynecology, Federal University of Piauí, Teresina, Piauí, Brazil
- Corresponding author at: Avenida Elias João Tajra, 1260, Apt. 600, Bairro Jockey Club, 64049-300, Teresina, Piauí, Brazil. Tel.: +55 86 3232 5063; fax: +55 86 3215 0470.

Received 3 January 2008; received in revised form 17 February 2008; accepted 20 February 2008. published online 03 April 2008.

Abstract

Objectives

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of tamoxifen on the weight and thickness of the urethral epithelium of castrated female rats.

Methods

Forty castrated adult female Wistar–Hannover rats were randomly divided into two groups: Group I (n=20) in which the animals received only the vehicle (propylene glycol) and Group II (n=20) in which the rats received tamoxifen 250μg/day by gavage. After 30 days of treatment, all animals were sacrificed and the urethra was immediately removed for weighing. Next, the urethra was divided into the proximal and distal segments, which were fixed in 10% formaldehyde and submitted to routine histological techniques for morphometric study. The data were analyzed using the weighted minimum mean-square error method and Student's t-test for two independent samples (p<0.05).

Results

There was a significant increase in the mean weight of the urethra in the rats of Group II compared to the control group, 32.0±2.0mg and 22.0±1.6mg, respectively (p<0.001). The mean thickness of the distal urethral epithelium of the animals treated with tamoxifen was significantly greater than that of the control group, 42.8±2.0μm and 36.6±1.5μm, respectively (p<0.001). There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups with respect to the epithelial thickness of the proximal urethra (p=0.514).

Conclusion

Treating castrated adult rats with 250μg/day of tamoxifen for 30 days may increase the weight of the urethra and the thickness of the distal urethral epithelium.

Keywords: Tamoxifen, Rat, Urethra, Morphometry, Epithelium, SERMs