ArticleAmerican journal of obstetrics and gynecology2022
Mechanisms governing protective pregnancy-induced adaptations of the pelvic floor muscles in the rat preclinical model.
Article in American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- Serial sarcomere adaptation to eccentric overload training is blunted in ovariectomized rats.Physiological reports · 2026Article
- Passive Mechanical Testing of Female Human Levator Ani and Superficial Perineal Muscles.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2026Article
- Assessing Postpartum Levator Ani Muscle Recovery: A Feasibility Study on Automated Texture Analysis in Transvaginal Ultrasound.Ultrasound in medicine & biology · 2025Article
- Overactive bladder symptoms profile and related factors among women during the perinatal period: a latent profile analysis.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Effect of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on pelvic floor muscle regeneration in a preclinical birth injury rat model.American journal of obstetrics and gynecology · 2024Article
- Article
- Proregenerative extracellular matrix hydrogel mitigates pathological alterations of pelvic skeletal muscles after birth injury.Science translational medicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe intrinsic properties of pelvic soft tissues in women who do and do not sustain birth injuries are likely divergent. However, little is known about this. Rat pelvic floor muscles undergo protective pregnancy-induced structural adaptations-sarcomerogenesis and increase in intramuscular collagen content-that protect against birth injury.
objectiveWe aimed to test the following hypotheses: (1) the increased mechanical load of a gravid uterus drives antepartum adaptations; (2) load-induced changes are sufficient to protect pelvic muscles from birth injury. STUDY
designThe independent effects of load uncoupled from the hormonal milieu of pregnancy were tested in 3- to 4-month-old Sprague-Dawley rats randomly divided into the following 4 groups, with N of 5 to 14 per group: (1) load
resultsAn acute increase in load resulted in significant pelvic floor muscle stretch, accompanied by an acute increase in sarcomere length compared with nonloaded control muscles (coccygeus: 2.69±0.03 vs 2.30±0.06 μm, respectively, P<.001; pubocaudalis: 2.71±0.04 vs 2.25±0.03 μm, respectively, P<.0001; and iliocaudalis: 2.80±0.06 vs 2.35±0.04 μm, respectively, P<.0001). After 21 days of sustained load, the sarcomeres returned to operational length in all pelvic muscles (P>.05). However, the myofibers remained significantly longer in the load
conclusionLoad induces plasticity of the intrinsic pelvic floor muscle components, which renders protection against mechanical birth injury. The protective effect, which varies between the individual muscles and strain magnitudes, is further augmented by the presence of pregnancy hormones. Maximizing the impact of mechanical load on the pelvic floor muscles during pregnancy, such as with specialized pelvic floor muscle stretching regimens, is a potentially actionable target for augmenting pregnancy-induced adaptations to decrease birth injury in women who may otherwise have incomplete antepartum muscle adaptations.
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