Parturition involves increasing compliance (ripening) of the uterine cervix and activation of the myometrium. These processes take place in a different time frame. Softening and shortening of the cervix starts in midpregnancy, while myometrial activation occurs relatively close to delivery. Methods currently available to clinicians to assess cervical and myometrial changes are subjective and in...

PURPOSE The goal of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in differentiating between benign and malignant endometrial lesions and determinining tumor grade. It also aimed to determine the contribution of the DWI to the diagnosis by detection of the myometrial invasion depth in malignant lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS The lesions were classified as benign ...

Intracellular Ca2+ release channels such as ryanodine receptors play crucial roles in the Ca2+-mediated signaling that triggers excitation-contraction coupling in muscles. Although the existence and the role of these channels are well characterized in skeletal and cardiac muscles, their existence in smooth muscles, and more particularly in the myometrium, is very controversial. We have now clea...

BACKGROUND A recent clinical trial demonstrated that selective progesterone receptor modulator asoprisnil is effective in reducing uterine leiomyoma volume. We investigated the effects of asoprisnil in vitro on the expression of the extracellular matrix (ECM)-remodeling enzymes and collagens in cultured leiomyoma and matching normal myometrial cells. METHODS The expression of extracellular ma...

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have the propensity to cause macromolecular damage with consequent modification of cellular function. We investigated the effects of two particular oxidants, superoxide (O2(-)) anions and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), on oxytocin-induced myometrial contractility using biopsies from women undergoing Caesarean section at term gestation. Isometric tension recordings were ...

Objective: To investigate the effects of isradipine, which is a calcium channel blocker, on late pregnant rats’ myometrium under in vitro conditions. Methods: Stripes were obtained from the myometriums of pregnant rats which were decapitated on the 18 days of gestation. The effects of isradipine on myometrium were investigated in four groups and four cumulative doses: 1 ng/ml, 10 ng/ml, 0.1 μg/...

The insecticide lindane (gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane) inhibits gap junction intercellular communication in rat myometrial cells by a mechanism involving oxidative stress. We hypothesized that oxidation of reduced glutathione (GSH) to glutathione disulfide (GSSG) and subsequent S-glutathionylation provide a mechanistic link between lindane-induced oxidative stress and lindane's inhibition of myo...

To observe the effects of insulin resistance on gonadal steroid hormone stimulation and the myometrial growth of female rats in order to elucidate the relationship between insulin resistance and the development of uterine leiomyomas. We divided 180 nonpregnant female Wistar rats into three groups as follows: group A, as the control group; group B, as the "model by exogenous sex hormone" group; ...

Purpose: In patients with endometrial carcinoma, preoperative knowledge of myometrial tumor extension has important prognostic and therapeutic implications. The purpose of this study was to assess the usefulness of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in preoperative evaluation of myometrial invasion of early stage endometrial ca rci noma. Materials and Methods : MR imaging findings of 31 consecutiv...

During pregnancy, placental CRH acts on human myometrium via specific receptors and might play a role in the regulation of myometrial contractility and hence human parturition. The myometrium is the site of production and target of several PGs, which can be activated by cytokines, especially during infection-induced preterm labor. We established primary human myometrial cell cultures that expre...