Α adrenoreceptors but not β adrenoreceptors increase in rabbit uterus with oestrogen

ABSTRACT STEROID hormones alter sympathetic function and modulate responses to catecholamines1–3. The gonadal steroids, oestrogen and progesterone, can affect sympathetic response by

altering catecholamine metabolism, and, in addition, they produce qualitative changes in the contractile response of smooth muscle to stimulation by adrenaline and noradrenaline4–6. The

response of human oviduct and uteri from several species changes from contraction to relaxation depending upon the concentrations of gonadal steroids. Contraction, which is mediated by

_α_-adrenergic receptors, is observed in uteri from oestrogen-treated humans or rabbits, while relaxation, a _β_-adrenergic response, predominates during pregnancy or with progesterone

treatment. Conversion between _α_ and _β_ response, depending on hormonal or other environmental factors, has prompted the hypothesis that _α_- and _β_-adrenergic receptors may be

interconvertible7–9. We used the radioligands 3H-dihydroergocryptine (DHE) and 125I-iodohydroxybenzylpindolol ([125I] IHYP) to quantitate _α_- and _β_-adrenergic receptors respectively in

subcellular preparations of uteri from rabbits treated with oestrogen or oestrogen followed by progesterone. _α_-Adrenergic binding sites were three times greater in uteri from the

oestrogen-treated animals in which _α_-adrenergic response was predominant than in uteri from animals treated with oestrogen followed by progesterone in which _β_-adrenergic response

predominates. The number of _β_-adrenergic binding sites was unchanged by the different treatments and these sites were only 5% as numerous as α-adrenergic sites. These findings suggest that

gonadal steroids may alter smooth muscle adrenergic response by alterations of adrenergic receptor number and do not support the hypothesis that _α_- and _β_-adrenergic receptors are simply

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Google Scholar  Download references AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Medicine and the Cardiovascular Research

Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, 94143 JAMES M. ROBERTS, PAUL A. INSEL, ROBERT D. GOLDFIEN & ALAN GOLDFIEN Authors * JAMES M. ROBERTS View

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Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE ROBERTS, J., INSEL, P., GOLDFIEN, R. _et al._ α adrenoreceptors but not β adrenoreceptors

increase in rabbit uterus with oestrogen. _Nature_ 270, 624–625 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/270624a0 Download citation * Received: 12 August 1977 * Accepted: 17 October 1977 * Issue

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