A major maternal adaptation in pregnancy is the large increase in uteroplacental blood flow that supplies the growing fetus with oxygen and nutrients. The impact of gestation on the dynamic uterine vasoconstrictor response to exercise in the rat, a common model for pathophysiological disorders in pregnancy remains unknown. We hypothesized that rats exhibit a robust uterine vasoconstrictor respo...

Previously we demonstrated that kidney concentration and urinary excretion of angiotensin-(1-7) are increased during normal pregnancy in rats. Since this finding may reflect local kidney production of angiotensin-(1-7), we determined the immunocytochemical distribution of angiotensin-(1-7) and its newly described processing enzyme, ACE2, in kidneys of virgin and 19-day-pregnant Sprague-Dawley r...

Normal pregnancy is associated with adaptive hemodynamic, hormonal, and vascular changes, and estrogen (E2) may promote vasodilation during pregnancy; however, the specific E2 receptor (ER) subtype, post-ER signaling mechanism, and vascular bed involved are unclear. We tested whether pregnancy-associated vascular adaptations involve changes in the expression/distribution/activity of distinct ER...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of melatonin on spontaneous and oxytocin-induced contractility of pregnant and non-pregnant rat myometrium in vitro. DESIGN: Myometrial strips were removed from virgin or late pregnant (21 days gestation) Wistar rats following decapitation and placed in an organ bath containing Krebs’ solution at 37°C and pH 7.4, constantly bubbled...

Increases in guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) induced by nitric oxide (NO), nitrovasodilators, and atrial peptides correlate with relaxation of vascular smooth muscle. Relaxation of myometrial smooth muscle by increases in cGMP, however, has required unusually high concentrations of the cyclic nucleotide. We tested the hypothesis that the sensitivity of myometrium to relaxation by cG...

This study was conducted to determine the impact of diesel exhaust inhalation on the fetus. Seventy-two pregnant rats and 18 nonpregnant rats were divided into three groups: a group exposed to total diesel engine exhaust containing 5.63 mg/m(3) particulate matter, 4.10 ppm nitrogen dioxide, and 8.10 ppm nitrogen oxide; a group exposed to filtered exhaust without particulate matter; and a group ...

We investigated the actions of isoflavones (daidzin + daidzein 22.7%, daidzein 16.9%, genistin + genistein 16.3%, genistein 13.1%) in pregnant rats, assessing possible repercussions regarding the development of female conceptus. Doses of isoflavones, 10 mg/kg or 100 mg/kg, were administered to pregnant rats by oral gavage, from the sixth day of pregnancy until its completion. The pregnant rats ...

Thyroid hormones are extremely important for development of the fetal central nervous system. Thyroidectomy results in severe hypothyroidism. In this study two levels of maternal hypothyroidism were reached by administration of different amounts of thyroxine (T4) and 3,5,3'-tri-iodothyronine (T3) to thyroidectomized pregnant rats. We examined the production, distribution and transport of T4 and...

This study was designed to investigate the effects of three diets with different levels of trans fatty acids and the physiologic status on the physicochemical properties and enzymatic activities of liver microsomes and mitochondria. Three groups of 10 female weaning rats each were fed for 10 wk one of three diets differing in their trans fatty acid contents (Control, 0 mol/100 mol total fatty a...