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Updated: Jan 30, 2026

Assessment of Maternal Vascular Remodeling During Pregnancy in the Mouse Uterus
Published on: December 5, 2015
Maternal parity and functional contractility of human myometrium in vitro in the third trimester of pregnancy
Gillian A Ryan1,2, Sarah M Nicholson3, Denis J Crankshaw3,4
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway University Hospital, Galway, Ireland. gillian.ryan@nuigalway.ie.
Objective:
It is well established that the duration of the first and second stages of labor are shorter in parous women than in their nulliparous counterparts, a phenomenon not well understood. The aim was to examine the effect of maternal parity on contractile parameters of human myometrium.
Design:
Myometrial strips were excised from n = 74 women at cesarean delivery and recordings of contractile activity analyzed and compared across three clinical groups: 1. No previous delivery (P0); 2. One previous delivery (P1); 3. Greater than one previous delivery (P>1).
Results:
There was a trend towards greater mean contractile force in the P>1 group than the P1 and P0 groups (P = 0.412). Frequency of contractions was less in the P1 group than in the P0 and P>1 groups(P = 0.027). No differences were observed in relation to all other parameters.
Conclusion:
Excluding frequency, no intrinsic differences were observed in the functional parameters of human uterine contractions in relation to parity.
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