Regional changes in catecholamine content of the pregnant uterus

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Abstract
High-pressure liquidchromatography with electrochemical detection was used to identify and measure catecholamines in rat, rabbit, sheep, guinea-pig and human uteri and follow changes with pregnancy. Noradrenaline [norepinephrine, NE] was consistently the major catecholamine and pregnancy caused a regionally specific fall in its concentration which, in rat, rabbit and guinea-pig, was associated with a decline in total content. Adrenaline [epinephrine, E] was undetectable (< 10 pmol/g myometrium) in all species and at all gestational ages studied. Dopamine and its metabolite 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) were detected at high concentrations in guinea-pig and particularly sheep uterus. In guinea-pig uterus the dopamne/DOPAC ratio fell dramatically with pregnancy, suggesting that increased quantities of dopamine were released and catabolized. The dopamine NE ratios suggested that dopamine is stored with NE in adrenergic neurones in guinea-pig myometrium and within an additional neuronal or cellular store(s) in sheep uterus.