Journal article
Enhanced uterine artery stiffness in aged pregnant relaxin mutant mice is reversed with exogenous relaxin treatment1
JH Gooi, ML Richardson, M Jelinic, JE Girling, ME Wlodek, M Tare, LJ Parry
Biology of Reproduction | OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC | Published : 2013
Abstract
Pregnancy is associated with a progressive remodeling of the uterine artery. This adaptation is influenced by local and systemic pregnancy-dependent factors. We recently demonstrated that the peptide hormone relaxin mediates uterine artery remodeling in late pregnant rats. The objective of this study in relaxin gene knockout (Rln-/-) mice was to test the hypothesis that relaxin deficiency throughout pregnancy disrupts uterine artery remodeling, an effect that is exacerbated by aging and reversed with relaxin treatment. Passive mechanical wall properties and extracellular matrix components were measured using pressure myography, quantitative PCR, and zymography in uterine arteries from pregna..
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Funding Acknowledgements
Supported by an Australian National Health & Medical Research Council Project Grant (L.J.P., M. T., J.E.G., M. E. W.), an Australian & New Zealand Medical Research & Technology in Victoria Grant (L.J.P.) and a University of Melbourne Early Career Researcher Grant (J.H.G.). This work was presented, in part, at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Reproductive Biology, 26-29 August 2012, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.