G protein-coupled estrogen receptor 1 expression in human vocal fold.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Besides the classical sexual receptors, the expression of a recently clarified transmembrane G protein-coupled receptor (GPR30) has not been reported in the vocal fold so far. We aimed to study whether GPR30 is expressed in the human vocal fold. STUDY DESIGN Experimental study using pathologic human vocal fold tissues. METHODS Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry were used to detect the GPR30 expression in a total of 83 vocal fold samples. RESULTS A total of 66% of the specimens tested were GPR30 mRNA positive, and 54% of the sections were revealed to be GPR30 immunostaining positive in the plasma membrane as well as the nucleus in the epithelial cells. CONCLUSIONS The GPR30 expression both in mRNA and protein level could be detected in the human vocal fold.