Repercussions of digoxin, digitoxin and estradiol on the endometrial histomorphometry of oophorectomized mice

The digitalics (digoxin and digitoxin) have an estrogenic action, confirmed by the presence of gynecomastia observed in men who are users of steroids, and it is also confirmed by the increase of vaginal trophism in postmenopausal female users, although little is known about the endometrium. These effects might result from the similarity of the chemical structures between the digitalics and estrogens. This study evaluated 27 female mice. Twenty-four mice were oophorectomized and in three of them the ovaries were manipulated, but they were not extirpated. Forty days after the surgery each group of three animals received a medication with a specific drug (digoxin, digitoxin or estradiol) for 2 weeks. Twenty-four hours after the last medication, all the animals were hysterectomized and the wombs were processed, cut and put on laminae. By histomorphometry, we analysed the area of the transverse sections of the endometrium, the area of the endometrial glands and the height of the uterine epithelium. The respective averages and the standard deviations were calculated. The results showed that digoxin neither presented an estrogenic action (p > 0.05) nor raised the power of the estradiol action (p > 0.05). Digitoxin promoted an estrogenic action on the glandular area (p < 0.05), and also raised the power of the estradiol action on the transverse section of the endometrium and on the glandular area (p < 0.05).