Skip Navigation



Mol. Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published online on June 15, 2009
Molecular Human Reproduction, doi:10.1093/molehr/gap041
This Article
Right arrow Advance Access manuscript (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
15/8/507    most recent
gap041v1
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 My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ito, E.
Right arrow Articles by Azuma, H.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ito, E.
Right arrow Articles by Azuma, H.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Changes in myometrial contractions in response to altered dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase during gestation of the rat

Emiko Ito1, Satoshi Obayashi2, Akiko Nagai3, Masatoshi Imamura1 and Hiroshi Azuma1

1Department of Biosystem Regulation, Institute of Biomaterials and Bioengineering, Graduate School, Tokyo Medical & Dental University, Tokyo, Japan 2Comprehensive Reproductive Medicine, Graduate School, Tokyo Medical & Dental University, Tokyo, Japan 3Department of Inorganic Materials, Institute of Biomaterials and Bioengineering, Graduate School, Tokyo Medical & Dental University, Tokyo, Japan

To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Comprehensive Reproductive Medicine, Graduate School, Tokyo Medical & Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan

There has been little information demonstrating the roles of dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH), which is the hydrolyzing enzyme of endogenous nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitors and, in turn, modulates the intracellular concentrations of NOS inhibitors, in the myometrium during the course of pregnancy. Therefore, the present experiments were designed to investigate whether or not DDAH activity, protein and mRNA expression levels are altered during gestation of the rat and, if altered, those changes reflect on the levels of endogenous NOS inhibitors and endothelin-1 (ET-1), and NO-dependent cyclic GMP generation in the myometrium. The up-regulated changes in DDAH activity, DDAH-2 protein and DDAH-2 mRNA expression at mid-gestation were accompanied by the reduced monomethylarginine (MMA) and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) as NOS inhibitors, and endothelin-1 (ET-1) levels, and by the enhanced NO-dependent cyclic GMP production. At term gestation, on the other hand, down regulated changes in DDAH activity, DDAH-2 protein and DDAH-2 mRNA expression were accompanied by the increased NOS inhibitors and ET-1 levels, and decreased NO-dependent cyclic GMP generation. These results suggest that alterations in DDAH/NOS inhibitors/NO-dependent cyclic GMP/ET-1 pathway are possibly involved in maintaining myometrial quiescence during gestation and controlling delivery at term.

Key Words: DDAH-1 and DDAH-2/MMA and ADMA/NOS/NO-dependent cyclic GMP/Endothelin-1

Submitted on March 5, 2009; resubmitted on May 22, 2009; accepted on May 29, 2009.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.