Personal and Clinical Vaginal Lubricants: Impact on Local Vaginal Microenvironment and Implications for Epithelial Cell Host Response and Barrier Function

Abstract

Vaginal lubricants are widely used both in-clinic and for personal use. Here, we employed monolayer and 3-dimensional vaginal epithelial cell models to show that select hyperosmolar lubricants induce cytotoxicity, reduce cell viability, and alter barrier and inflammatory targets.