Skin advanced glycation content reflects vaginal tissue glycation level in relation to pregnancy

A few studies have revealed that the advanced glycation content of the vaginal wall in pelvic organ prolapse tissues is elevated. This elevation makes advanced glycation a significant association with the disease. Early detection of vaginal wall glycation could therefore be relevant in the prevention and management of pelvic organ prolapse. A vaginal wall biopsy to detect this would be ideal, but is invasive. Therefore the use of a more accessible organ to access, such as skin, would be beneficial. Our previous independent study suggests that conditions such as pregnancy, can induce a change in the vaginal tissues' glycation content. The aim of this study was to assess whether the skin glycation undergoes similar changes as observed in vaginal tissue glycation in the same subjects in order to prove the hypothesis that skin advanced glycation content can predict vaginal tissue glycation. A rat model was used. The vaginal tissues from non-pregnant and E15-E18 pregnant rats and skin tissues from the same rats were taken for the measurement of advanced glycation content. The glycation marker, pentosidine, was quantified by a high performance liquid chromatography. Our results demonstrated that glycation content in vaginal wall tissues from pregnant rats was lower than the tissues from non-pregnant ones, and a strong positive association between skin and vaginal wall pentosidine level was observed. We conclude that skin pentosidine is reflective of vaginal wall pentosidine. Skin glycation may therefore be a potential tool in the prediction and management of pelvic organ prolapse.