Login Register Cart 0
Generic placeholder image

Current Pharmaceutical Design

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1381-6128
ISSN (Online): 1873-4286

Back
Journal Home About Journal Editorial Board Journal Insight Current Issue Volumes/Issues
Subscribe
Review Article

Adrenergic and Cholinergic Uterine Innervation and the Impact on Reproduction in Aged Women

Author(s): Ioannis P. Kosmas, Antonio Malvasi, Daniele Vergara, Ospan A. Mynbaev, Radmila Sparic and Andrea Tinelli*

Volume 26, Issue 3, 2020

Page: [358 - 362] Pages: 5

DOI: 10.2174/1381612826666200128092256

Abstract

In recent years, the development of Assisted Reproductive Technique, the egg and embryo donation changed substantially the role of the uterus in recent years. It provided a higher chance for a pregnancy even in women over 45 years or post-menopause. In fact, the number of aged patients and in peri/post-menopause in pregnancy is nowadays increasing, but it increases obstetrical and neonatal related problems. The human uterus is richly innervated and modified especially during pregnancy and labor, and it is endowed with different sensory, parasympathetic, sympathetic and peptidergic neurofibers. They are differently distributed in uterine fundus, body and cervix, and they are mainly observed in the stroma and around arterial vessel walls in the myometrial and endometrial layers. Many neurotransmitters playing important roles in reproductive physiology are released after stimulation by adrenergic or cholinergic nerve fibers (the so called sympathetic/parasympathetic co-transmission). Immunohistochemical study demonstrated the localization and quantitative distribution of neurofibers in the fundus, the body and cervix of young women of childbearing age.

Adrenergic and cholinergic effects of the autonomous nervous system are the most implicated in the uterine functionality. In such aged women, the Adrenergic and AChE neurofibers distribution in the fundus, body and cervix is progressively reduced by increasing age. Adrenergic and AChE neurotransmitters were closely associated with the uterine arteries and myometrial smooth muscles, and they reduced markedly by ageing. The Adrenergic and AChE neurofibers decreasing has a dramatical and negative impact on uterine physiology, as the reduction of pregnancy chance and uterine growth, and the increase of abortion risk and prematurity.

Keywords: Adrenergic fibers, acetylcholine positive fibers, reproduction, pregnancy, fertility, assisted reproductive technique, abortion.

« Previous Next »
[1]
Sato Y, Hotta H, Nakayama H, Suzuki H. Sympathetic and parasympathetic regulation of the uterine blood flow and contraction in the rat. J Auton Nerv Syst 1996; 59(3): 151-8.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0165-1838(96)00019-7] [PMID: 8832521]
[2]
Hoffman BB, Lefkowitz RJ. Catecholamines, Sympathomimetic drugs and Adrenergic receptor Antagonist Goodman & Gilman’s The Pharmacological basis of Therapeutics 2001; 10: 199-248.
[3]
Bajo AM, Juarranz MG, Valenzuela P, Martínez P, Prieto JC, Guijarro LG. Expression of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) receptors in human uterus. Peptides 2000; 21(9): 1383-8.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0196-9781(00)00282-5] [PMID: 11072126]
[4]
Di Tommaso S, Cavallotti C, Malvasi A, et al. A qualitative and quantitative study of the innervation of the human non pregnant uterus. Curr Protein Pept Sci 2017; 18(2): 140-8.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1389203717666160330105341] [PMID: 27063643]
[5]
Ostergard DR, Bent AE, Eds. Baltimore, MD International Continence Society, Committee on Standardization of Terminology The standardization of terminology of lower urinary tract function Urogynecology and urodynamics: theory and practice. 3rd ed. Williams and Wilkins 1991.
[6]
Malvasi A, Tinelli A, Cavallotti C, et al. Distribution of substance P (SP) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) in pseudocapsules of uterine fibroids. Peptides 2011; 32(2): 327-32.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.peptides.2010.10.034] [PMID: 21167238]
[7]
Malvasi A, Cavallotti C, Nicolardi G, et al. NT, NPY and PGP 9.5 presence in myomeytrium and in fibroid pseudocapsule and their possible impact on muscular physiology. Gynecol Endocrinol 2013; 29(2): 177-81.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/09513590.2012.709682] [PMID: 22849656]
[8]
Falck B, Torp A. New evidence for the localization of noradrenalin in the adrenergic nerve terminals. Med Exp Int J Exp Med 1962; 6: 169-72.
[PMID: 13891409]
[9]
Aguilar HN, Mitchell BF, Knoll AH, Yuan X. Physiological pathways and molecular mechanisms regulating uterine contractility. Hum Reprod Update 2010; 16(6): 725-44.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/humupd/dmq016] [PMID: 20551073]
[10]
Tiwari P, Dwivedi S, Singh MP, Mishra R, Chandy A. Basic and modern concepts on cholinergic receptor: a review. Asian Pac J Trop Dis 2017; 3(5): 413-20.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2222-1808(13)60094-8]
[11]
Hotta H, Uchida S, Shimura M, Suzuki H. Uterine contractility and blood flow are reflexively regulated by cutaneous afferent stimulation in anesthetized rats. J Auton Nerv Syst 1999; 75(1): 23-31.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0165-1838(98)00170-2] [PMID: 9935266]
[12]
Sugasawa K, Andō K, Mōri T. Noradrenergic and cholinergic nerves in the uterus of the Japanese long-fingered bat, Miniopterus schreibersii fuliginosus, change with reproductive cycle. Zool Sci 2002; 19(4): 387-92.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.2108/zsj.19.387] [PMID: 12130815]
[13]
Chang HH, Lee YC, Chen MF, Kuo JS, Lee TJ. Sympathetic activation increases basilar arterial blood flow in normotensive but not hypertensive rats. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2012; 302(5): H1123-30.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/ajpheart.01016.2011] [PMID: 22210747]
[14]
Melo RC, Machado CR. Noradrenergic and acetylcholinesterase-positive nerve fibres of the uterus in sexually immature and cycling rats. Histochem J 1993; 25(3): 213-8.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00163817] [PMID: 8473200]
[15]
Richeri A, Viettro L, Chávez-Genaro R, Burnstock G, Cowen T, Brauer MM. Effects of infantile/prepubertal chronic estrogen treatment and chemical sympathectomy with guanethidine on developing cholinergic nerves of the rat uterus. J Histochem Cytochem 2002; 50(6): 839-50.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002215540205000610] [PMID: 12019300]
[16]
Tingåker BK, Johansson O, Cluff AH, Ekman-Ordeberg G. Unaltered innervation of the human cervix uteri in contrast to the corpus during pregnancy and labor as revealed by PGP 9.5 immunohistochemistry. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol 2006; 125(1): 66-71.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejogrb.2005.07.020] [PMID: 16188372]
[17]
Mowa CN, Papka RE. The role of sensory neurons in cervical ripening: effects of estrogen and neuropeptides. J Histochem Cytochem 2004; 52(10): 1249-58.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002215540405201001] [PMID: 15385571]
[18]
Salihu HM, Shumpert MN, Slay M, Kirby RS, Alexander GR. Childbearing beyond maternal age 50 and fetal outcomes in the United States. Obstet Gynecol 2003; 102(5 Pt 1): 1006-14.
[PMID: 14672478]
[19]
Nabukera S, Wingate MS, Alexander GR, Salihu HM. First-time births among women 30 years and older in the United States: patterns and risk of adverse outcomes. J Reprod Med 2006; 51(9): 676-82.
[PMID: 17039694]

Rights & Permissions Print Cite
Article Metrics
40
7
World Health Day
© 2024 Bentham Science Publishers | Privacy Policy