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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Assessment of Maternal Vascular Remodeling During Pregnancy in the Mouse Uterus
Published on: December 5, 2015
Pregnancy augments nitric oxide-dependent dilator response to acetylcholine in the human uterine artery
S H Nelson1, O S Steinsland, M S Suresh
1Department of Anesthesiology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston 77555, USA.
Abstract:
The influence of pregnancy on the dilator effects of acetylcholine in the isolated human uterine artery was investigated. Acetylcholine (0.1 nM to 0.1 microM) produced concentration- and endothelium-dependent relaxation of norepinephrine (3 microM)-induced contraction. The relaxation was greater in arteries from pregnant patients (P arteries) than from non-pregnant patients (NP arteries). The maximal relaxation was 53.5+/-3.4% (n=21) in P arteries and 23.5+/-2.5% (n=35) in NP arteries. In both P and NP arteries the cholinergic relaxation was increased in the presence of superoxide dismutase and greatly reduced in the presence of the nitric oxide synthase inhibitors, NG-mono-methyl L-arginine (L-NMMA) and L-nitro-arginine-methylester (L-NAME). The effect of these nitric oxide synthase inhibitors was reversed by L-arginine. We conclude that pregnancy enhances acetylcholine-induced nitric oxide synthesis and release in the human uterine artery.
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