Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

CiteULike is a free service for managing and discovering scholarly references - click here to get started.

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Journal of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ravikumar, N.
Right arrow Articles by Morrison, J. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ravikumar, N.
Right arrow Articles by Houlihan, D. D.
Right arrow Articles by Morrison, J. J.
Right arrowPubmed/NCBI databases
*Compound via MeSH
*Substance via MeSH
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Effects of Polyamines on Human Umbilical Artery Tone In Vitro

Nandini Ravikumar, MB, MRCOG

Diarmaid D. Houlihan, BSc, MBBCH

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Clinical Science Institute, National University of Ireland Galway, University College Hospital, Galway, Ireland

John J. Morrison, MD, MRCOG, FRCPI

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Clinical Science Institute, National University of Ireland Galway, University College Hospital, Galway, Ireland; john.morrison{at}nuigalway.ie

Objective: Polyamines act as endogenous modulations of cell function and excitability. There are no data in relation to their effects on the human fetoplacental circulation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the polyamines, spermine, and spermidine on human umbilical artery resistance in vitro.

Methods: Isometric tension recordings were performed under physiologic conditions on human umbilical arterial rings (n = 12). The in vitro effects of spermine and sperimidine (at concentrations ranging between 10-9 M to 10-3 M) were measured, and compared with those measured in vehicle control experiments. The maximal inhibition (MMI) at the highest concentration and the pD2(-log EC50 values for each compound were calculated and compared.

Results: Spermine and spermidine exerted a potent relaxant effect on human umbilical arterial tone in comparison to vehicle control experiments. The MMI ± SEM for spermine was 18.41 ± 1.437% (n = 6; P < .001) and for sperimidine was 38.31 ± 3.572% (n = 6, P < .001). There was no different observed between the pD2 ± SEM value for spermine (5.78 ± 1.54, n = 6) and spermidine (6.27 ± 0.85; n = 6) (P = .517).

Conclusion: The polyamines spermine and spermidine exert a potent relaxant effect on human umbilical artery tone suggestive of an endogenous role for these compounds in vasomotor regulation of the fetoplacental circulation.

Key Words: Polyamines • human umbilical artery • fetoplacental circulation

Journal of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation, Vol. 11, No. 8, 536-539 (2004)
DOI: 10.1016/j.jsgi.2004.06.007
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?