Relaxin and drinking in pregnant rats

Work reported in this chapter describes the potential role of relaxin in resetting cardiovascular thresholds in pregnant rats. Relaxin, a polypeptide produced primarily by the ovary in pregnant animals in many species, is also produced in the brain. Exogenous administration of relaxin into the brain causes a profound drinking response which is negated by pretreatment with a specific monoclonal antibody to rat relaxin when the antibody is injected into the brain. Neutralizing the action of endogenous brain relaxin in pregnant rats also blocks the normal increase in drinking that is observed in rats at night during the second half of pregnancy. Relaxin acts through the forebrain angiotensin system at the level of the subfornical organ (an important interface between the blood, the brain and the cerebrospinal fluid) as blockade of the angiotensin II receptor action negates several central actions of relaxin. Expression of angiotensin II AT1 receptors in the subfornical organ increases in parallel with the increase in circulating relaxin seen in the second half of pregnancy. Neutralizing the effects of endogenous brain relaxin, using central injections of the monoclonal antibody, blocks this increase in the expression of angiotensin II AT1 receptors in subfornical organ. These data imply that relaxin in the brain may act to affect central cardiovascular thresholds in rats and this may be important for the normal physiology of pregnancy.