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Updated: Jun 25, 2026
Ovariectomy and 17β-estradiol Replacement in Rats and Mice: A Visual Demonstration
Published on: June 7, 2012
Estrogen replacement avoids the decrease of bladder innervations in ovariectomized adult virgin rats: in vivo
Rogerio de Fraga1, Paulo Palma, Miriam Dambros
1Universidade Federal do Paraná, Rua Bruno Filgueira 2211, AP 1301 CEP 80730-380 Curitiba, PR, Brazil. ogeriodefraga@uol.com.br
Introduction And Hypothesis:
The authors quantified the nerve fibers in the bladder wall of ovariectomized rats with and without estradiol replacement.
Methods:
This study was conducted on 40 Wistar rats (3 months old). Group 1: remained intact; Group 2: underwent bilateral ovariectomy, and after 30 days was started on subcutaneous sesame oil replacement (0.2 ml per day) for 90 days; Group 3: sham-operated, and after 30 days was started on subcutaneous sesame oil replacement (0.2 ml per day) for 90 days; Group 4: bilateral ovariectomy, and after 30 days was started on subcutaneous injection of 17β-estradiol (10 μg/kg body weight) for 90 days. S-100 was used to stain nerves myelinized fibers on paraffin rat bladder sections. The G-50 grid system was used to quantitatively analyze the fibers.
Conclusion:
Long-term estrogen deprivation caused significant changes in bladder innervations, which can be characterized by a decreased number of nerve fibers by 65% (p < 0.001).
