Oxytocin and the initiation of human parturition. II. Stimulation of prostaglandin production in human decidua by oxytocin
Fuchs, A.R.; Husslein, P.; Fuchs, F.
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 141(6): 694-697
1981
ISSN/ISBN: 0002-9378 PMID: 7315896 Document Number: 172080
The effect of oxytocin on the production of prostaglandins E and F (PGE and PGF) by human decidua, amnion and myometrium was studied in vitro. Oxytocin significantly increased the production of both PGE and PGF in the decidua, and the production of PGE in the amnion. In the myometrium the stimulatory effect of oxytocin on PGF production was small and not statistically significant, and PGE production was not affected at all. Oxytocin may provide the stimulus for the accelerated prostaglandin production in decidua and fetal membranes at the onset of labor. Since oxytocin levels rise in the fetal circulation at this time, the oxytocin stimulus may be of fetal origin as well as of maternal origin.