Estrogen-like activity of digitalis: its effect on the squamous epithelium of the female genital tract

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Abstract
Vaginal smears of 52 postmenopausal women who had been taking digitoxin for periods of 3 months to 15 years were studied for possible estrogen-like effect on epithelial maturation. The pattern of cells from 20 women who had been taking digitoxin for over 2 years showed marked maturation of vaginal squamous epithelium, closely simulating the effect of estrogens. Of the 32 women who had been taking digitoxin less than 2 years, only 3 showed marked maturation of the squamous epithelium. Four of the 50 control patients exhibited moderate estrogenic effect. None showed marked maturation of vaginal epithelium.