Recovery of the transmitter content in uterine adrenergic nerves after pregnancy

Gårdmark, S.; Owman, Christer; Sjöberg, Nils‐Otto

doi:10.1016/0002-9378(71)90279-1

Cited by 16 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Sjoberg (1967) has drawn attention to the fact that ovarian noradrenaline concentrations exceed uterine levels in the cat and in the human. A similar situation applies in the guinea-pig, where uterine levels are reported to be 0.7-0.9 pp/g (Gardmark, Owman & Sjoberg, 1971; Kulkarni, Wakade & Kirpekar, 1976) compared to 2.5-4.95 pg/g in ovaries (Kulkarni et al, 1976;Mohsin et al, 1977;Handberg, Pennefather & Farrar, 1978). In recent histochemical studies of noradrenaline levels in reproductive tissues from the guinea-pig following surgical interruption of the ovarian and/or the hypogastric nerves supplying the reproductive tract, results indicate that the ovary and the tuba1 W P t 4 Table 3.…”

Section: Ovarian Innervationmentioning

confidence: 74%

The Sympathetic Innervation of the Mammalian Ovary. A Review of Pharmacological and Histological Studies

Mohsin

Pennefather

1979

Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol

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The a i m of this article is to review the literature concerning the nature and function of the sympathetic innervation of the mammalian ovary. We focus our attention upon evidence relating to suggestions that ovarian smooth muscle participates in ovulatory events, and that such participation may be modulated by the local neural supply. Guttmacher & Guttmacher (1921) mentioned that this possibility was first suggested nearly 70 years before they observed smooth muscle-like cells in the follicular walls of sow ovaries and found that isolated follicular walls were contracted by physostigmine and relaxed by adrenaline. However, Claessen (1 947), using polarisation microscopy, was unable to confirm the presence of smooth muscle in the apices of follicles from a number of species, and interest in the Guttmachers' findings temporarily lapsed.In 1967, Jacobowitz & Wallach reported the findings of a histological study of ovaries from cats, monkeys and humans in which they observed catecholamine fluorescence associated with smooth muscle-like cells in the stroma. In 1969, Rocereto, Jacobowitz & Wallach demonstrated that the cat isolated ovary exhibited spontaneous mechanical activity and was reactive to catecholamines. These investigations together with those of Owman & Sjoberg (1966) and Sjoberg (1967) initiated a resurgence of interest in the possibility that the adrenergic innervation of the ovary may play a functional role in ovarian processes; in particular that it might affect the contractility of smooth muscle and so participate in ovulation.With the development of techniques such as electron microscopy and fluorescence histochemistry, together with greater sophistication of pharmacodynamic analysis, an increasing number of publications concerned with the role of smooth muscle and adrenergic innervation in the ovary has appeared in the recent literature.Reference to some of this work is found in the reviews of Marshall (1972, 1973) t and Bell (1972). A comprehensive review devoted specifically to the roles of catecholamines and nerves in ovulation was published by Bahr, Kao & Nalbandov in 1974. Their review described the sympathetic innervation of avian as well as of mammalian ovaries and the possible function of such innervation. They considered evidence relating to several possible roles, including modification of contraction of ovarian smooth muscle, participation in ovulation, and/or control of the ovarian vasculature, and concluded that nerves play some role in ovulation, but that it is not clear how this effect is mediated.

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Section: Ovarian Innervationmentioning

confidence: 74%

The Sympathetic Innervation of the Mammalian Ovary. A Review of Pharmacological and Histological Studies

Mohsin

Pennefather

1979

Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol

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“…The time-course of reappearance of these nerves is in good agreement with that seen after treatment with 6-hydroxydopamine or antibodies t o Nerve Growth Factor (Bjerre at d. 1975). It should be mentioned that previously reported figures on the reappearance of uterine NA after delivery (Cardmark et al 1971) are based on determinations which include also the cervix (and the tuba1 end of the uterine horn) where the N A restoration is more rapid. The NA values given are therefore higher than would be anticipated from the present fluorescence histochemical analysis of the main part of the uterine horns during the post p w r u m period.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional changes in structural and functional integrity of myometrial adrenergic nerves in pregnant guinea‐pig, and their relationship to the localization of the conceptus

Thorbert

Alm

Owman

et al. 1978

Acta Physiologica Scandinavica

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Pregnancy is accompanied by a reduction in uterine noradrenaline, and the study was undertaken to investigate associated structural and functional integrity of the sympathetic nerves in the organ. The formaldehyde-induced fluorescence of adrenergic nerves was studied in different uterine regions before and after in vitro incubation or injection with alpha-methyl-noradrenaline in pregnant and puerperal guinea-pig uterus at 6 time periods, from early pregnancy (about 20 days post coitum) to 3 months post partum. The changes were related to the position of the fetuses, which were often present in only one of the two uterine horns. There was a drastic loss of fluorescent adrenergic nerves in myometrial tissue from horns distended by fetuses. Attempts to restore this fluorescence by incubation or injection with alpha-methyl-noradrenaline were essentially ineffective. Tissues from uterine regions outside (and not distended by) fetuses (in the case of early pregnancy), from horns devoid of fetuses (in the case of unilateral pregnancy), and from the cervix also lost their noradrenaline-fluorescent nerves, but this occurred at a much later stage of pregnancy. After treatment with alpha-methyl-noradrenaline, a fluorescent plexus of sympathetic nerves could be restored to a considerable extent in these latter tissues. In puerperal animals the horn that had been devoid of fetuses regained its endogenous fluorescence much faster, and the uptake of alpha-methyl-noradrenaline was more efficient, than in the horn which had contained fetuses. In this latter horn clear signs of restoration of endogenous adrenergic fluorescence and a clear uptake capacity was not found until 3 months after delivery. In the tubal end of the uterus, the reduction in the number of fluorescent nerves was only insignificant, and the region thus clearly differed from the rest of the uterus. It is concluded that (1) there are clear regional differences with regard to the disappearance of the noradrenaline transmitter in the uterus, (2) this disappearance in early pregnancy is related to the position of the conceptus, and (3) the changes involve de- and regenerative phenomena as well as alterations in transmitter levels of intact neurons.

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“…1971). Following parturition, the time course of recovery in the empty horn is much shorter than that in the gravid horn, with some restoration of NA within a few days, and complete restoration of pre-pregnancy levels by 2 weeks (Girdmark et al 1971). A comparable degree of depletion of NA from empty horns during pregnancy is seen in the rat (Fig.…”

Section: Effect Of Pregnancy On Uterine Sympathetic Nervesmentioning

confidence: 53%

Neurochemistry of the Sympathetic Innervation to the Uterus

Bell

Malcolm

1988

Clin Exp Pharma Physio

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1. The uterus is supplied by numerous noradrenergic sympathetic nerve fibres, which supply the intramural vasculature and also, in some species at least, the myometrium. 2. Pregnancy is associated with progressive loss of catecholamine from these nerves. Although some direct mechanical damage due to stretching of the uterine wall contributes to this effect, it is primarily due to hormonal influences. 3. In animal experiments, the changes in uterine catecholamine occurring during pregnancy are mimicked by intra-uterine administration of progesterone. 4. The action of progesterone appears not to be selective for pelvic sympathetic neurons, or those in which transmitter turnover rate is particularly slow. The mechanism of depletion is probably through inhibition of tyrosine hydroxylase activity. 5. The functional role of this phenomenon during pregnancy, if one exists, seems likely to be related to protection of the fetoplacental blood supply against sympathetically mediated vasospasm. It is also possible that circulating progesterone may have a general inhibitory action on the female sympathetic nervous system.

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Recovery of the transmitter content in uterine adrenergic nerves after pregnancy

Cited by 16 publications

References 13 publications

The Sympathetic Innervation of the Mammalian Ovary. A Review of Pharmacological and Histological Studies

The Sympathetic Innervation of the Mammalian Ovary. A Review of Pharmacological and Histological Studies

Regional changes in structural and functional integrity of myometrial adrenergic nerves in pregnant guinea‐pig, and their relationship to the localization of the conceptus

Neurochemistry of the Sympathetic Innervation to the Uterus

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