[Sialidase activity in cervical connective tissue during cervix maturation and dilatation during labor]

The authors obtained small pieces of materials from portio vaginalis uteri of 122 women being in postmenopause and premenopause, in different stages of pregnancy and parturition concerning directly after delivery. Different biochemical investigations of these 30-200 mgs specimens were performed to study the physiological background of its ripening process. They examined the changes in activity of sialidase which cleaves terminal sialic acids. The authors performed these investigations with the use of Triticum vulgaris (WGA) and Limulus polyphemus (LPA) agglutinins (lectins) marked with FITC. The evaluation of the lectin linkage happened with fluorescence microscope. They evaluated the whole fluorescence of extracellular matrix but separately of different extracellular matrix elements as well. From their investigations was stated that the number of WGA and LPA binding sites of the uterine cervix increases predominantly in the 1st trimester pregnancy compared to the non-pregnant state. As compared to the 1st trimester they described a slight reduction of LPA- and WGA-binding sites in the 3rd trimester. The most impressing changes of LPA and WGA binding sites in the extracellular matrix were observed during parturition. These results coincide with the authors' previous experience whereas the sialidase activity increases significantly during parturition. These data support the assumption that the terminal sialic acids and the sialidase play a recently yet not cleared role in the ripening of the human uterine cervix during pregnancy and in dilatation at the time of parturition.