Endocrinology, Vol 106, 1650-1654, Copyright © 1980 by Endocrine Society

ARTICLES

Uterine catecholamines and prostaglandins during the estrous cycle of the rat

DE Van Orden, DB Goodale, HA Baker, DB Farley and RK Bhatnagar

The uterine contents of norepinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine, and prostaglandins F and E were determined on each day of the rat estrous cycle. Catecholamines were determined by high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (HPLC-EC) as well as by a radioenzymatic technique; prostaglandins were quantitated by RIA. The norepinephrine and dopamine values obtained by the radioenzymatic assay were approximately 1.5 times as high as the values obtained by HPLC-EC (norepinephrine, 285 vs. 188 ng/g; dopamine, 11.0 vs. 7.5 ng/g). Despite this difference in levels, both analytic techniques showed a decline in uterine norepinephrine from diestrus to estrus, followed by a significant (P less than 0.01) increase in norepinephrine on the day of metestrus. A cyclic pattern was also revealed for uterine dopamine concentration. There was a decline in dopamine concentration from diestrus to proestrus (radioenzymatic, P less than 0.01), followed by a return to high levels at metestrus (HPLC-EC). Epinephrine levels were low (undetectable by radioenzymatic assay; 24 ng/g by HPLC-EC) and showed no variation during the estrous cycle. Prostaglandin F was uniformly higher than prostaglandin E (10 vs. 2.5 ng/uterus). Significant increases in the uterine contents of both prostaglandins were shown on the day of proestrus.

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