Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T22:26:19.621Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Nasal mucosal congestion during the menstrual cycle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

Bodil Paulsson
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology, Central Hospital, Skövde, Sweden.
Thomas Gredmark
Affiliation:
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Central Hospital, Skövde, Sweden.
Pawel Burian
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology, Central Hospital, Skövde, Sweden.
Mats Bende*
Affiliation:
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Central Hospital, Skövde, Sweden.
*
Address for correspondence: Mats Bende, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Central Hospital, S-541 85 Skövde, Sweden.

Abstract

A relationship between the reactivity of the nasal mucosa and changes in female sex hormones have been debated for a long time, although no evidence has been presented to prove or disprove this relationship. Nasal patency was therefore measured by nasal expiratory peak-flow in 26 women for two months in order to study changes in nasal mucosal congestion during the menstrual cycle. In another eight women, nasal congestion was measured by acoustic rhinometry, and symptoms of nasal stuffiness were registered during periods when there were various levels of plasma oestradiol and progesterone. Finally, nasal mucosal biopsies were taken for preparation of receptors for oestradiol and progesterone. This study could not verify the effects of female sex hormones on the nasal mucosa. This could be explained by the fact that no receptors for oestradiol and progesterone were found.

Type
Main Articles
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Armengot, M., Marco, J., Ruiz, M., Baixauli, A. (1990) Hormonas y mucosa nasal. Una revision bibliografica. Anales Otorrinolaringologicos Iberoamericanos 17: 317328.Google Scholar
Bende, M., Hallgårde, U., Sjögren, C., Uvnäs-Moberg, K. (1989a) Nasal congestion during pregnancy. Clinical Otolaryngology 14: 385387.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bende, M., Hallgårde, U., Sjögren, C. (1989b) Occurrence of nasal congestion during pregnancy. American Journal of Rhinology 3: 217219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doty, R. L., Snyder, P. J., Huggins, G. R., Lowry, L. D. (1981) Endocrine, cardiovascular, and psychological correlates of olfactory sensitivity changes during the human menstrual cycle. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 95: 4560.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grymer, L. F., Hilberg, O., Elbrönd, O., Pedersen, O. F. (1989) Acoustic rhinometry: Evaluation of the nasal cavity with septal deviations, before and after septoplasty. Laryngoscope 99: 11801187.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Le Magnen, J. (1952) Les phénomènes olfacto-sexuels chez l'homme. Archives des Sciences Physiologiques 6: 125160.Google Scholar
Mackenzie, J. N. (1884) Irritation of the sexual apparatus as an etiological factor in the production of nasal disease. American Journal of the Medical Sciences 87: 360365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackenzie, J. N. (1898) The physiological and pathological relations between the nose and the sexual apparatus of man. Alienst and Neurologist 19: 219239.Google Scholar
Mortimer, H., Wright, R. P., Collip, J. B. (1936) The effect of oestrogenic hormones on the nasal mucosa; their role in the naso-sexual relationship; and their significance in clinical rhinology. Canadian Medical Association Journal 35: 615621.Google ScholarPubMed
Sperof, L., Glass, R. H., Kase, N. G. (1994) Regulation of the menstrual cycle. In Clinical Gynecologic Endocrinology and Infertility. 5th Edition. Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Hong Kong, London, Munich, Sydney, pp 183230.Google Scholar
Toppozada, H., Michaels, L., Toppozada, M., El-Ghazzawi, E., Tallat, A., Elwany, S. (1981) The human nasal mucosa in the menstrual cycle. Journal of Laryngology and Otology 95: 12371247.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zondek, B., Bromberg, Y. M. (1947) Endocrine allergy; clinical reactions of allergy to endogenous hormones and their treatment. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the British Empire 54: 119.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed