Discovery and characterization of novel pharmaceutical compounds or biochemical probes rely on robust and physiologically relevant assay systems. We describe methods to measure ex vivo myometrium contractility. This assay can be used to investigate factors and molecules involved in the modulation of myometrial contraction and to determine their excitatory or inhibitory actions, and hence their ...

The obesity pandemic can be viewed as a result of an imbalanced reaction to changing environmental factors. Recent research has linked circadian arrhythmicity to obesity and related diseases; however, the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. In this study, we found that high-fat diet (HFD) feeding strikingly promoted daytime rather than nighttime caloric intake in mice, leading to feeding c...

The aim of this study was to compare carboprost with oxytocin for the prevention of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) in females with a high risk of PPH undergoing cesarean delivery. Patients were randomly divided into three groups that received different uterotonics (oxytocin, carboprost and oxytocin plus carboprost) during cesarean section, following the delivery of the infant. A total of 117 femal...

BACKGROUND Globally 166 000 women die annually as a result of obstetric haemorrhage. More than 50% of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Uterine atony is the commonest cause of severe postpartum haemorrhage (PPH). Bleeding at or after caesarean section (CS) is responsible for >30% of maternal deaths due to obstetric haemorrhage in South Africa (SA). OBJECTIVE To compare oxytocin alo...

The 220 MHz spectra of tocinamide and deaminotocinamide, the ring moieties of oxytocin and of deamino-oxytocin, respectively, were investigated in [U-(2)H]dimethylsulfoxide solution. Extensive decoupling and exchange experiments allow complete spectral assignment and determination of many coupling constants. Circular dichroism spectra assigned a right-hand screw sense to the C-S-S-C group. The ...

Oxytocin, also known as ‘‘love hormone,’’ is a mammalian neuropeptide acting primarily in the brain. The neuromodulatory effects of oxytocin play critical roles in a wide range of social, parental, and stress-related behaviors. More recently, deficiencies in oxytocin levels and mutations of the oxytocin receptor have also been associatedwith the etiology of autism. Recent studies highlighted in...

Oxytocin is synthesized and released in the heart and vasculature, tissues that also express oxytocin receptors. Although it has been established this intrinsic cardiovascular oxytocin system is important in normal homeostatic cardiac and vascular regulation, a role for this system in cardiovascular pathophysiology has not been investigated. The current study examined the influence of oxytocin ...

The circular dichroic spectra of oxytocin and four analogues of oxytocin are presented at several pH values in the wave length interval, 220 to 320 rnp. The analogues are 2-isoleucineand 2-glycine-oxytocin, in which the tyrosine residues in Position 2 have been replaced by isoleucine and glycine, respectively, as well as deamino-oxytocin and deamino-2-isoleucine-oxytocin, in which the a-NH2 gro...

The present study was conducted on rats with inflammation induced by subcutaneous injection of carrageenan into the left hindpaw. Intrathecal administration of oxytocin produced dose-dependent increases in the hindpaw withdrawal latency (HWL) to thermal and mechanical stimulation in rats with inflammation. The antinociceptive effect of oxytocin was blocked by intrathecal administration of atosi...