Female ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Septate Uterus ; Uterus/surgery* ; Hysteroscopy/methods* ; Estrogens ; Tissue Adhesions/surgery* ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Multicenter Studies as Topic

OBJECTIVE: To depict the cell landscape and molecular biological characteristics of human intrauterine adhesion (IUA) so as to better understand its immune microenvironment and provide new inspirations for clinical treatment. METHODS: Four patients with IUA who underwent hysteroscopic treatment at Dongguan Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital from February 2022 to April 2022 were selected as the study subjects. Hysteroscopy was used to collect the tissues of IUA, which were graded based on the patient's medical history, menstrual history and status of IUA. Library construction, sequencing, single cell data comparison and gene expression matrix construction were carried out in strict accordance with the single cell RNA sequencing process. Thereafter, the UMAP dimension reduction analysis of cell population and genetic analysis were carried out based on the cell types. RESULTS: A total of 27 511 cell transcripts were obtained from four moderately graded IUA tissue samples and assigned to six cell lineages including T cells, mononuclear phagocytes, epithelial cells, fibroblasts, endothelial cells and erythrocytes. Compared with normal uterine tissue cells, the four samples showed different cell distribution, and the proportions of mononuclear phagocytes and T cells in sample IUA0202204 were significantly increased, suggesting a strong cellular immune response. CONCLUSION The cell diversity and heterogeneity of moderate IUA tissues have been described. Each cell subgroup has unique molecular characteristics, which may provide new clues for further study of the pathogenesis of IUA and heterogeneity among the patients.
Pregnancy ; Female ; Child ; Humans ; Endothelial Cells ; Uterine Diseases/complications* ; Hysteroscopy/methods* ; Tissue Adhesions/etiology* ; Sequence Analysis, RNA

Postoperative adhesion (PA) is currently one of the most unpleasant complications following surgical procedures. Researchers have developed several new strategies to alleviate the formation of PA to a great extent, but so far, no single measure or treatment can meet the expectations and requirements of clinical patients needing complete PA prevention. Chinese medicine (CM) has been widely used for thousands of years based on its remarkable efficacy and indispensable advantages CM treatments are gradually being accepted by modern medicine. Therefore, this review summarizes the formating process of PA and the efficacy and action mechanism of CM treatments, including their pharmacological effects, therapeutic mechanisms and advantages in PA prevention. We aim to improve the understanding of clinicians and researchers on CM prevention in the development of PA and promote the in-depth development and industrialization process of related drugs.
Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Tissue Adhesions/prevention & control* ; Industrial Development ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use*

Esophageal Achalasia/surgery* ; Esophagoscopy ; Humans ; Muscles ; Myotomy ; Tissue Adhesions

OBJECTIVES: The main treatment for intrauterine adhesion (IUA) is hysteroscopic adhesiolysis (HA), which most of treatment frequently employs estrogen and progesterone cycle therapy. The growth and coverage of endometrium after operation is a difficult problem, and several hospitals in China have performed growth hormone (GH) in empirically treating IUA, which has achieved excellent curative effects. Unfortunately, the mechanism of action has not yet been clearly elucidated. In previous study, an IUA animal model after surgical abortion and curettage in pregnant rats has been successfully established. In this experiment, the IUA animal model after surgical abortion and curettage in pregnant rats, which is more in line with the mechanism of human intrauterine adhesion, was used for the first time to investigate the therapeutic effect of GH on IUA in the pregnant rat curettage model. The expression of signal transducers and activators of transcription 3(STAT3), phosphorylated STAT3 (p-STAT3), STAT5 and p-STAT5 content were detected by immunohistochemistry to preliminarily explore the possible mechanism of GH involving in promoting endometrial growth of IUA, and to provide a theoretical basis for clinical medication and treatment. METHODS: Pregnant rats were anesthetized, and the bilateral embryos were removed completely. Then the rat endometrium was scraped with a curette in 4 different directions (front, back, left, and right). After the IUA animal model was established, the rats were randomly divided into 3 groups (n=5): a control group, a GH group, and a GH + AG490 group. Normal saline (0.4 mL/100 g) was injected subcutaneously at the 7th day after curettage in the control group；0.15 U/100 g of GH was injected subcutaneously at the 7th day after curettage in the GH group; 0.15 U/100 g of GH was injected subcutaneously and 1 mg/100 g AG490 was injected intraperitoneally at the 7th day after curettage in the GH+ AG490 group. All the rats were injected continuously for 5 days. The rats in each group were sacrificed at the 14th day. The uterus of rats in each group was stained with HE staining to explore the endometrial morphology and the number of endometrial glands in each group, and Masson staining was utilized to observe the degree of endometrial fibrosis. The levels of STAT3, p-STAT3, STAT5 and p-STAT5 were detected by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: 1) The number of glands in the GH group was more than that in the control group on the 14th day, with statistical difference (P<0.05). However, the number of endometrial glands in the AG490+GH group was decreased compared with the GH group on the 14th day (P<0.05). 2) The fibrosis ratio in the GH group was less than that in the control group at the 14th day after operation (P<0.05). However, the area of endometrial interstitial fibrosis in the AG490+GH group was much higher than that in the GH group 14 days after operation (P<0.05). 3) Compared with the control group, there was not significant difference in the levels of STAT3 and STAT5 in GH group (both P>0.05), while the levels of protein p-STAT3 and p-STAT5 were increased in the GH group (both P<0.05). Compared with the GH group, there was not significant difference in the levels of STAT3 and STAT5 in the AG490+GH group (both P>0.05), while the levels of p-STAT3 and p-STAT5 were decreased in the AG490+GH group (both P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS GH can not only promote the growth of endometrial glands in the IUA model, but also reduce the degree of fibrosis and play a role in the treatment of IUA, which may be related to the activation of the Janus kinase (JAK), JAK/STAT3 and STAT5 signaling pathways.
Animals ; Rats ; China ; Growth Hormone ; Endometrium/pathology* ; Tissue Adhesions/drug therapy*

OBJECTIVES: Intrauterine adhesions (IUA) refers to the adhesions between the myometrium of the uterine cavity, which is secondary to damage to the basal layer of the endometrium due to trauma or infection. The occurrence of IUA is mainly related to intrauterine operations. Hysteroscopic adhesiolysis (HA) is the standard surgical treatment for IUA. But the recurrence rate of IUA after HA is still high. Importantly, endometrium recovery is difficult, resulting in unsatisfied prognosis for moderate to severer IUA patients. Therefore, it is important to take effective primary preventive measures against the etiology to avoid endometrium damage from medical surgery. In this paper, we discuss and analyze predilection and severer sites of intrauterine adhesions, aiming to provide a basis for how to avoid and reduce injuries during intrauterine operations, such as abortion, dilation and curettage. METHODS: In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the surgical videos of patients who underwent HA for the first time from January 2019 to December 2021 in the Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University so as to assess the area of adhesions and predilection and severer sites of occurrence of adhesions, and we collected 657 patients who underwent HA for the first time, including 81 patients with total IUA and 576 patients with partial IUA. We counted and analyzed the number and composition ratio of partial IUA patients with severer sites of damage to the lateral wall of the uterine cavity and severerr sites of damage to each segment of the uterine cavity. RESULTS: Among 576 patients with partial IUA, there were 60 patients with no significant difference in the degree of adhesions between the right and left sides, 143 patients with severer adhesions on the left side of the uterine cavity, and 373 patients with severer adhesions on the right side of the uterine cavity. There was a difference in the severity of damage of left and right lateral wall. The proportion of patients with severer adhesions on the right side of the uterine cavity (64.8%) was higher than that of patients with adhesions on the left side of the uterine cavity (24.8%), and there was statistically difference (P<0.05). There was 93 patients with severer adhesions at the fundus or bilateral horn of the uterus, 190 patients with severer adhesions at the middle and upper part of the uterine cavity, 245 patients with severer adhesions at the middle and lower part of the uterine cavity and at the endocervix, and 48 patients with no significant difference in the degree of adhesions in each part. The proportion of patients with severer adhesions at the middle and lower part of the uterine cavity and at the endocervix was higher (42.5%) than those with adhesions in the fundus or bilateral horn of the uterus (16.1%) and in the middle and upper part of the uterine cavity (33.0%), and there were statistically differences (both P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS The predilection site of IUA is the lateral wall of the uterine cavity. The severer adhesions is in the right lateral wall of the uterine cavity, the middle and lower segments and the endocervix, which may be related to the operating habits of the surgeon. Therefore, gynecologists should minimize damage to the lateral wall of the uterine cavity, especially the right lateral wall in performing uterine operations (more attention should be paid by right-handed physicians). Besides, we should pay attention to protecting the middle and lower segments of the uterine cavity and the endocervix, avoiding maintaining negative pressure to withdraw the uterine tissue suction tube from the uterine cavity during abortion procedures to minimize damage.
Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Tissue Adhesions ; Uterus/pathology*

OBJECTIVES: Although hysteroscopic adhesiolysis (HA) is the main treatment for intrauterine adhesion (IUA), postoperative management of IUA remains challenging because there is no consensus on how to mitigate the high rate of postoperative adhesions reformation. This study aims to compare the effectiveness and safety of 2 types of intrauterine stents with different thickness and hardness in treating moderate-to-severe IUA. METHODS: A retrospective clinical study was conducted in the Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University from November 2020 to July 2021. A total of 191 patients with moderate-to-severe IUA who received surgical treatment and placed intrauterine stents after HA to prevent recurrence of postoperative adhesions were included. According to the hardness and thickness of the intrauterine stents, the participants were divided into a case group (placed the novel thin intrauterine stent, n=62) and a control group (placed the conventional stent, n=129). After 2-3 menstrual cycles, a second-look hysteroscopy was performed, and the intrauterine stents were removed. The postoperative efficacy [the reduction of American Fertility Society (AFS) scores, the adhesions reformation rate, the changes in menstrual pattern, and the pregnancy rate during the follow-up], safety (the adverse events), and applicability (the difficulty of stent removal) were compared between the 2 groups. RESULTS: No significant differences in preoperative clinical characteristics were observed between the 2 groups (all P>0.05). The menstrual volume of all patients was increased after the treatment. The reduction of AFS scores and the menstruation recovery rate were not significantly different between the 2 groups (P=0.519 and P=0.272, respectively). Notably, there was no case of displacement in the case group, while the displacement rate of the control group was 2.3% (P=0.552). Moreover, there was no significant difference in abdominal pain or postoperative abnormal vaginal bleeding between the 2 groups (P=0.823 and P=0.851, respectively). However, the difficulty rate of removing the thinner stents was significantly lower than that of removing the traditional stent (21.0% vs 38.8%, P=0.014). During the follow-up for half a year of the postoperative period, the pregnancy rate did not differ significantly in the case and control groups (45.0% vs 34.6%, P=0.173). CONCLUSIONS The novel intrauterine stent shows noninferior efficacy and had a good safety profile compared with conventional stents in treating moderate-to-severe IUA. Importantly, it was more convenient to be removed without increasing the rate of displacement and detachment. Therefore, it could reduce the amount of damage to the endometrium and has higher applicability than conventional stents.
Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Tissue Adhesions ; Uterus/pathology*

Integrins are a large family of heterodimeric cell adhesion molecules composed of α and β subunits. Through interaction with their specific ligands, integrins mediate cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions. Via outside-in signaling, integrins can recruit cytoplasmic proteins to their intracellular domains and then cluster into supramolecular structures and trigger downstream signaling. Integrin activation is associated with a global conformation rearrangement from bent to extended in ectodomains and the separation of α and β subunit cytoplasmic domains. During cell migration, integrins regulate the focal adhesion dynamics and transmit forces between the extracellular matrix and the cell cytoskeleton. In tumor microenvironment, integrins on multiple kinds of cells could be activated, which modulates cell migration into tumor and contributes to angiogenesis and tumor metastasis. Here, we review the mechanism of integrin activation, dynamics of focal adhesions during cell migration and tumor metastasis.
Cell Adhesion ; Cell Adhesion Molecules ; Focal Adhesions ; Integrins ; Signal Transduction

Intestinal obstruction is one of the most common diseases in abdominal surgery, and its prevention and treatment is a clinical difficulty. Although surgical operation can solve the symptoms of obstruction, there are many postoperative complications, and it is easy to develop re-obstruction due to postoperative abdominal adhesion. The internal fixation of small intestine with obstruction catheter provides a new idea for the prevention of postoperative adhesive bowel obstruction. The use of transanal ileus catheter provides the possibility of direct intestinal anastomosis after resection of malignant obstruction in the left hemicolon and can reduce the incidence of postoperative complications. However, sufficient attention should be paid to the related complications, and prevention and treatment should be planned. It is important to note that the use of obstruction catheter is only one of the conservative treatments for bowel obstruction, and it is not a complete replacement of surgery. Surgical treatment should still be considered, if the catheter fails to significantly move, if the obstructive symptoms do not significantly improve 5 days after catheterization.
Catheters ; Digestive System Surgical Procedures ; Humans ; Intestinal Obstruction/surgery* ; Intestine, Small ; Tissue Adhesions

Despite increased evidence of bio-activity following far-infrared (FIR) radiation, susceptibility of cell signaling to FIR radiation-induced homeostasis is poorly understood. To observe the effects of FIR radiation, FIR-radiated materials-coated fabric was put on experimental rats or applied to L6 cells, and microarray analysis, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and wound healing assays were performed. Microarray analysis revealed that messenger RNA expressions of rat muscle were stimulated by FIR radiation in a dose-dependent manner in amount of 10% and 30% materials-coated. In 30% group, 1,473 differentially expressed genes were identified (fold change [FC] > 1.5), and 218 genes were significantly regulated (FC > 1.5 and p < 0.05). Microarray analysis showed that extracellular matrix (ECM)-receptor interaction, focal adhesion, and cell migration-related pathways were significantly stimulated in rat muscle. ECM and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-mediated cell migration-related genes were increased. And, results showed that the relative gene expression of actin beta was increased. FIR radiation also stimulated actin subunit and actin-related genes. We observed that wound healing was certainly promoted by FIR radiation over 48 h in L6 cells. Therefore, we suggest that FIR radiation can penetrate the body and stimulate PDGF-mediated cell migration through ECM-integrin signaling in rats.
Actins ; Animals ; Cell Movement* ; Extracellular Matrix ; Focal Adhesions ; Gene Expression ; Homeostasis ; Infrared Rays ; Integrins ; Microarray Analysis ; Muscle, Skeletal* ; Platelet-Derived Growth Factor* ; Rats ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA, Messenger ; Wound Healing