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Predominance of Local Over Systemic Factors in Uterine Arterial Remodeling During Pregnancy

Department of Ob/Gyn and Reproductive Sciences, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont

Carolyn Barron, BS

Department of Ob/Gyn and Reproductive Sciences, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont

Maurizio Mandala, PhD

Department of Cell Biology, University of Calabria, Cosenza, Italy

Natalia Gokina, PhD

Department of Ob/Gyn and Reproductive Sciences, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont

George Osol, PhD

Department of Ob/Gyn and Reproductive Sciences, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont, George.Osol{at}uvm.edu

This study used a rat model in which pregnancy was surgically restricted to one uterine horn to differentiate between local (fetoplacental) and systemic (endocrine) influences on uterine vascular remodeling during pregnancy. Sprague-Dawley rats with single-horn pregnancies were studied on day 20/22 of gestation and compared to age-matched nonpregnant and late-pregnant controls. The morphology (axial length, lumen diameter, wall thickness) of the main uterine artery and of smaller arcuate vessels showed that vascular growth was dramatically increased in the pregnant versus nonpregnant horn, (P < .05). Arcuate artery wall thickness increased in the nonpregnant horn (compared to nonpregnant controls, P < .05), suggesting a limited role for systemic hormonal influences on vascular remodeling. Notably, animals with only one functional horn compensated by increasing the average number of implantation sites per horn from 7.6 to 12.9, thereby maintaining essentially normal litter size without any reduction in fetal or placental weights. These results demonstrate unequivocally that local rather than systemic influences play the dominant role in uterine vascular gestational remodeling of both large and small uterine arteries, and reveal a significant adaptive process that maintains relatively normal fecundity in spite of surgical restriction of normal bilateral pregnancy.

Key Words: Vascular remodeling • single horn ligation • uterine artery • Sprague-Dawley rat.

This version was published on May 1, 2009

Reproductive Sciences, Vol. 16, No. 5, 489-500 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1933719108329816


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