Reproduction Abstracts

Background: The impact of androgens on myometrial contraction has received less scrutiny, compared to progesterone and estrogens. We sought to i) examine the effect of dihydrotestosterone (DHT; a non-aromatizable androgen) on stretch-induced contraction of human myometrium and ii) gain mechanistic insights by studying changes in intracellular calcium [Ca2+] and phosphorylation of myosin light chain (MLC).Methods: Myometrial strips were recover...

Introduction: Both obesity and mood disorders associate with altered glucocorticoid (GC) secretion and action. During pregnancy placenta regulates foetal exposure to maternal GC through enzymatic clearance (HSD-2) and retrograde transfer (ABC transporters). We and others have shown that maternal obesity and/or mood disorders alter placental HSD-2 mRNA level. We therefore hypothesised that placental ABC transporter gene expression is also altered, and investigated this using sa...