Pregnancy Induces Degenerative and Regenerative Changes inthe Autonomic Innervation of the Female Reproductive Tract

Owman, Christer

doi:10.1002/9780470720653.ch13

Cited by 32 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…They have observed that, by day 15 of pregnancy, adrenergic fibers around uterine arteries show fragmentation and swollen varicosities, and that, by day 22, adrenergic nerve fibers are practically absent. This profound reduction of nerves has thus been ascribed to degeneration, a concept supported by other authors, who have also described axonal sprouting in the postpartum period (Sporrong et al 1978;Sporrong et al 1981;Owman 1981;Haase et al 1997). The decrease in nerve fiber density observed in pregnancy in part may also be accounted for by uterine hypertrophy (Haase et al 1997).…”

Section: Reduction Of Innervation During Pregnancy and At Estrusmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…The decline in the ratio of mature NGF to proNGF during gestation coincides with the degeneration of uterine sympathetic innervation, whereas the postpartum recovery of the ratio parallels uterine sympathetic nerves restoration (Owman 1981;Haase et al 1997;Klukovits et al 2002).…”

Section: Role Of Neurotrophic Factorsmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Autonomic nerve fibers are not homogeneously distributed in the uterus. Their density is higher in the tubal end of the uterine horn and in the cervix than in the main part of the uterine horn (Owman 1981;Moscarini et al 1982). Their density and localization also vary according to the association with individual structures (Garfield 1986).…”

Section: Nerve Distribution In the Uterusmentioning

confidence: 94%

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Remodeling of uterine innervation

et al. 2008

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This minireview reports current hypotheses concerning the remodeling of sympathetic innervation in rodent and human uterus during the estrous cycle and gestation. Neural modulation in this organ is related to sexual hormone concentrations, and a reduction in nerve density is observed when estrogen levels are high during the estrous cycle. Estrogen receptor alpha is considered to be the major receptor mediating the action of estrogen. In the uterus, the expression of neurotrophins, such as nerve growth factor, which are involved in the survival and growth of nerve fibers, changes in response to steroid levels. Despite much research, further studies are necessary to clarify various aspects of nerve growth control under diverse physiological conditions. These studies could be of importance, since alterations of the biological mechanisms of uterus innervation may play significant roles in various pathologies, such as infertility and spontaneous abortion.

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Section: Reduction Of Innervation During Pregnancy and At Estrusmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Role Of Neurotrophic Factorsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Nerve Distribution In the Uterusmentioning

confidence: 94%

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Remodeling of uterine innervation

et al. 2008

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“…The contractions elicited by the electric field stimuli were evaluated by oneway ANOVA, followed by Dunnett's multiple comparison tests. To calculate the DM-related differences between the main values of EC 50 and the maximum effects in the concentrationresponse curves and the DM related difference in the RT-PCR products, unpaired t-tests were carried out. All statistical analyses were performed by means of GraphPad Prism.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Activation of the sympathetic system would result in an increase of myometrial contractility and vasoconstriction, mediated by α-ARs. The loss of the adrenergic fibers may serve to prevent all of these potentially harmful consequences [50,51].…”

Section: Myometrial Functions: Hormonal Regulation and Adrenoceptorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of experimental diabetes mellitus on the adrenergic functions of the rat uterus

Spiegl

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Myometrial ultrastructure and innervation in Motis lucifugus, the little brown bat

Buchanan

Garfield

1984

Anat. Rec.

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Uteri from hibernating bats, Myotis lucifugus, collected periodically from Renfrew County, Ontario, were fixed in 2% glutaraldehyde and processed for electron microscopy or incubated in glyoxylic acid to show adrenergic nerves by fluorescence. The bat uterus is structurally typical of mammalian species; although the right uterine horn is permanently enlarged in parous bats due to hypertrophy of both myometrium and endometrium. Nerves were abundant between both longitudinal and circular layers of muscle cells. Unmyelinated, and some myelinated, axons, ranging from few to many, coursed generally parallel to the uterine long axis. Numerous axonal varicosities containing small dense-cored (adrenergic) vesicles or, less often, small agranular (cholinergic) vesicles, were found forming close nerve-muscle contacts between myometrial cells and blood vessels. Fluorescent microscopy showed a dense network of adrenergic nerves in parous uteri, but a sparse network in nulliparous uteri. A specific adrenergic nerve marker, 5-hydroxydopamine, greatly increased the density and in some instances, the size of granular vesicles, while 6-hydroxydopamine, which depletes adrenergic neutrotransmitter, reduced the number of dense-cored vesicles. Nulliparous uteri appeared unchanged by six daily injections of 0.1 microgram estradiol-17 beta; 0.25 mg progesterone, or both; but parous uteri were greatly enlarged by all regimes. Nerve ultrastructure, however, appeared unaffected by steroid treatment; nor, despite the absolute dextral bias in implantation, were left-right differences observed. Gap junctions were not found between muscle cells in myometria of any bat uteri. Based on this study, we suggest that M. lucifugus may provide a most useful model for examination of neurogenic regulation of the uterus.

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Pregnancy Induces Degenerative and Regenerative Changes inthe Autonomic Innervation of the Female Reproductive Tract

Cited by 32 publications

References 49 publications

Remodeling of uterine innervation

Remodeling of uterine innervation

The effects of experimental diabetes mellitus on the adrenergic functions of the rat uterus

Myometrial ultrastructure and innervation in Motis lucifugus, the little brown bat

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