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Uterine Function (uterine + function)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	75%

Selected Abstracts

The role of oxytocin and regulation of uterine oxytocin receptors in pregnant marsupials

EXPERIMENTAL PHYSIOLOGY, Issue 2000
Laura J. Parry
The oxytocin-like peptide of most Australian marsupials is mesotocin, which differs from oxytocin by a single amino acid. This substitution has no functional significance as both peptides have equivalent affinity for and biological activity on the marsupial oxytocin-like receptor. A role for mesotocin in marsupial parturition has been demonstrated in the tammar wallaby where plasma mesotocin concentrations increase less than one minute before birth. Infusion of an oxytocin receptor antagonist at the end of gestation disrupts normal parturition, probably by preventing mesotocin from stimulating uterine contractions. In the absence of mesotocin receptor activation, a peripartum surge in prostaglandins is delayed which suggests a functional relationship between mesotocin, prostaglandin release and luteolysis. Female marsupials have anatomically separate uteri and in monovular species, such as the tammar wallaby, only one uterus is gravid with a single fetus whereas the contralateral uterus remains non-gravid. We have used this unique animal model to differentiate systemic and fetal-specific factors in the regulation of uterine function during pregnancy. The gravid uterus in the tammar wallaby becomes increasingly sensitive to mesotocin as gestation proceeds, with the maximum contractile response observed at term. This is reflected in a large increase in mesotocin receptor concentrations in the gravid uterus, and a downregulation in the non-gravid uterus in late pregnancy. The upregulation in myometrial mesotocin receptors is pregnancy-specific and independent of systemic steroids. One factor that may influence mesotocin receptor upregulation in the gravid uterus in late pregnancy is mechanical stretch of the uterus caused by the growing fetus. Our data highlight that a local fetal influence is more important than systemic factors in the regulation of mesotocin receptors in the tammar wallaby. [source]

Regulation of uterine function by cytokines in cows: Possible actions of tumor necrosis factor-,, interleukin-1, and interferon-,

ANIMAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 3 2006
Kiyoshi OKUDA
ABSTRACT When animals do not become pregnant, regression of the corpus luteum (CL) is essential for normal cyclicity because it allows the development of a new ovulatory follicle. Luteal regression is caused by a pulsatile release of prostaglandin (PG) F2, from the uterus in the late luteal phase in most mammals including cattle. Although it has been proposed in ruminants that pulsatile PGF2, secretion is generated by a positive feedback loop between luteal and/or hypophyseal oxytocin and uterine PGF2,, the bovine endometrium may possess other mechanisms for initiation of luteolytic PGF2, secretion. There is increasing evidence that several cytokines mainly produced by immune cells modulate CL and uterine function in many species. Tumor necrosis factor-, (TNF-,) stimulates PGF2, output from bovine endometrium not only at the follicular phase but also at the late luteal phase. Administration of TNF-, at a high concentration prolongs luteal lifespan, whereas administration of a low concentration of TNF-, accelerates luteal regression in cows. The data obtained from the authors' previous in vitro and in vivo studies strongly suggest that TNF-, is a crucial factor in regulating luteolysis in cows. The authors' recent study has shown that interleukin-1, mediates PG secretion from bovine endometrium as a local regulator. Furthermore, interferon-, (IFN-,) suppresses the action of TNF-, on PGF2, synthesis by the bovine endometrium in vitro, suggesting that IFN-, plays a luteoprotective role by inhibiting TNF-,-induced PGF2, production in early pregnancy. The purpose of the present review is to summarize current understanding of the endocrine mechanisms that regulate uterine function by cytokines during the estrous cycle and early pregnancy in cows. [source]

The history of tocolysis

BJOG : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS & GYNAECOLOGY, Issue 2003
Marc J.N.C. Keirse
In 1950, the World Health Organisation (WHO) defined prematurity as a birthweight of 2500 g or less and in 1961 as a gestational age of less than 37 weeks. The time in between marks an era in which there was growing recognition of the importance of gestational age at birth and how to influence it. The latter was facilitated too by the development of tocography, which permitted some semi-objective measurement of uterine contractility. Along with it, came a growing interest in agents that could control uterine contractility beyond the earlier classical approaches of hormones and gastrointestinal spasmolytics. Hence, the early 1960s saw much research interest in agents, such as nylidrine, isoxsuprine, and orciprenaline that could suppress uterine contractility as one of their many beta-agonist properties. Subsequently, two approaches would be used to shift the balance towards uterine function over and above the influence on other bodily functions. One consisted of supplementing these drugs with agents, such as calcium antagonists and beta-receptor blockers that were hoped to suppress non-uterine actions. The other was a search for drugs in the same class with greater uterospecificity and more selective binding to uterine as opposed to other receptors. Neither of these approaches has ever fully fulfilled the hopes that were pinned on them, but they resulted in the availability of a large number of agents to suppress uterine contractility. The advent of prostaglandins as regulators of uterine contractility and the ability to suppress their biosynthesis saw another range of attempts to suppress uterine activity. They included aspirin, sodium salicylate, flufenamic acid, sulindac and indomethacin, but some were clearly based on a defective understanding of how uterine prostaglandin synthesis can be influenced. In the meantime, a flurry of other agents came and went, often more than once, testifying to the ingenuity of clinicians in trying to solve a problem that is poorly understood. Some, such as relaxin and ethanol, came and disappeared. Others, such as calcium antagonists, entered the scene as protectors against the non-uterine effects of other agents, went, and re-entered the scene in their own right. Still others, such as magnesium sulphate, came, lingered around, and became credited with effects in preterm labour that do not depend on affecting uterine contractility. Amidst this all arose the term tocolysis, coined in 1964 by Mosler from the Greek stems ,,,,' and ,,,,,,', to epitomise all of this ingenuity. [source]