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Zinc Transporter 9 (SLC30A9) Expression Is Decreased in the Vaginal Tissues of Menopausal Women

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Abstract

Our aim was to compare zinc transporter (ZnT/SLC30A, and ZIP/SLC39A) expression between pre- and postmenopausal women in human vaginal tissues. Zinc transporter families are responsible for the maintenance of intracellular zinc concentrations. Zinc has significant effects on the extracellular matrix composition. Vaginal wall biopsies were obtained from seven premenopausal and seven postmenopausal women. mRNA expression of twenty-four zinc transporters was determined by quantitative real-time PCR. Zinc transporter expression at the protein level was assessed by immunohistochemistry. Student’s t test and Mann-Whitney U test were used to compare data. ZnT4 and ZnT9 mRNA expression were significantly lower in postmenopausal women compared with premenopausal women (mean ± SD mRNA expression in relative units, 96.43 ± 140.61 vs. 410.59 ± 304.34, p = 0.03 and 0.62 ± 0.39 vs. 1.13 ± 0.31, p = 0.02). In addition, ZIP2, ZIP3, and ZIP6 mRNA expressions were significantly lower in postmenopausal women compared with premenopausal women (mean ± SD mRNA expression in relative units, 1.11 ± 0.61 vs. 2.29 ± 1.20, p = 0.04; 2.32 ± 1.90 vs. 15.82 ± 12.97, p = 0.02 and 1.10 ± 0.80 vs. 5.73 ± 4.72, p = 0.03). ZnT9 protein expression in the stratum spinosum was significantly lower in postmenopausal women (p = 0.012). Zinc transporters were expressed differentially in the vaginal tissues. ZnT9 expression was significantly lower in postmenopausal women compared with premenopausal women.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge Novo-Lab Kft. (Agilent Technologies) for providing the ICP-OES 5100 instrument for the measurements.

Funding

This work was supported by GINOP-2.1.1-15-2016-00783.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Biology Group, FemPharma, LLC, Vígkedvű Mihály utca 21. II/5, Debrecen, 4024, Hungary

    Anett Csikós

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary

    Bence Kozma & Rudolf Lampé

  3. Department of Pathology, Gyula Kenézy County Hospital, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary

    Ágnes Pór & Ilona Kovács

  4. Department of Genetics and Applied Microbiology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary

    Ida Miklós

  5. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Peter Takacs

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  1. Anett Csikós
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  3. Ágnes Pór
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Correspondence to Anett Csikós.

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Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Hungarian National Institutional Review Medical Research Council (approval no. 7239-3/2017EIUG) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Conflict of interest

Csikós was former employee of FemPharma LLC. Takacs has received honoraria from FemPharma LLC. For the remaining authors, none were declared.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Csikós, A., Kozma, B., Pór, Á. et al. Zinc Transporter 9 (SLC30A9) Expression Is Decreased in the Vaginal Tissues of Menopausal Women. Biol Trace Elem Res 199, 4011–4019 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-020-02525-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-020-02525-w

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