Indirect evaluation of estrogenic activity post heterotopic ovarian autograft in rats.

PURPOSE To morphologically evaluate the estrogenic effect on the uterus and vagina of rats submitted to ovarian autografts. METHODS Twenty Wistar EPM-1 adult rats were bilaterally ovariectomized, followed by ovarian transplants in retroperitoneal regions. The animals were divided in four groups of five animals, according to the day of euthanasia: G4, G7, G14 and G21, corresponding to the 4th, 7th, 14th and 21st day after surgery, respectively. Vaginal smears were collected from the first day of surgery until euthanasia day. After that, the vagina and uterus were removed, fixed in 10% formaldehyde and submitted to histological analysis and stained with hematoxiline and eosine. RESULTS All animals showed estrous cycle changes during the experiment. In 4th day, the uterus showed low action of estrogen with small number of mitosis and eosinophils as well as poor development. On the 7th day, the endometrium was atrophic without mitotic signals and presented a small number of eosinophils. On the 14th and 21th days the histological findings were similar, with the presence of mitosis in the endometrial glands and intense leucocyte infiltration with a large number of eosinophils. Morphometric results showed that the endometrial and myometrial thickness as well as the number of eosinophils presented the highest values during the 14th and 21th days of the evaluation. The 7th day group also presented the lowest eosinophil numbers. Vaginal epithelium features were: 4th and 7th day groups presented non-keratinized stratified epithelium with 5 and 2 cell layers, respectively. The 14th and 21st day groups presented non-keratinized stratified epithelium with 14 and 15 cell layers. CONCLUSION Experimental ovarian autografts in the evaluated organs presented maximum estrogen activity after the 21st day of surgery, according to morphological and morphometric data.