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Reproductive Sciences
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The Influence of Pregnancy and Gender on Perivascular Innervation of Rat Posterior Cerebral Arteries

Annet M. Aukes, MSc

University of Vermont, Departments of Neurology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Pharmacology, Burlington, University of Groningen, School of Behavioral and Cognitive Neurosciences, and University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Groningen, the Netherlands

Nicole Bishop, BS

University of Vermont, Departments of Neurology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Pharmacology, Burlington

Julie Godfrey, BA

University of Vermont, Departments of Neurology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Pharmacology, Burlington

Marilyn J. Cipolla, PhD

University of Vermont, Departments of Neurology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Pharmacology, Burlington, marilyn.cipolla{at}uvm.edu

The authors investigated the influence of pregnancy and gender on the density of trigeminal and sympathetic perivascular nerves in posterior cerebral arteries (PCA) and the reactivity to norepinephrine and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). PCAs were isolated from nonpregnant, late-pregnant, postpartum, and male rats, mounted and pressurized on an arteriograph chamber to obtain concentration-response curves to norepinephrine and CGRP. Arteries were immunostained for CGRP-, tyrosine hydroxylase—, and protein gene product 9.5 (PGP 9.5)—containing perivascular nerves, and nerve density was determined morphologically. Pregnancy had a trophic effect on trigeminal perivascular innervation (P < .01 vs male); however, this was not accompanied by a change in reactivity to CGRP. Sympathetic and PGP 9.5 nerve densities were not altered by pregnancy or gender, and there were no differences in reactivity to norepinephrine. Together, these results suggest that the increase in trigeminal innervation during pregnancy is more related to nociception than in controlling resting cerebral blood flow.

Key Words: Perivascular innervation • pial arteries • pregnancy • rat.

Reproductive Sciences, Vol. 15, No. 4, 411-419 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1933719107314067
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