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PGF₂ and its Metabolites in Uterine and Jugular Venous Plasma and Endometrium of Ewes during Pregnancy¹

West Virginia University, Morgantown 26506

Abstract

Three experiments were conducted to examine the effects of early pregnancy on levels of prostaglandin F₂ (PGF₂) in the ovineendometrium and on concentrations of PGF₂, 15-keto-PGF₂ and 13, 14-dihydro-15-keto-PGF₂ in uterine and jugular venous plasma. In the first study, content (ng) and concentration (ng/g) of PGF₂ were found to be greater in the endometrium of pregnant (1,996 ± 256 and 179 ± 29, respectively) than of nonpregnant (1,046 ± 145 and 91 ± 14, respectively) ewes, particularly on days 15 and 16, but no change was detected in concentrations of PGF₂ in uterine venous plasma (5.8 ± 1.3 and 5.6 ± .8 ng/ml, respectively). Of the two metabolites of PGF₂ measured in jugular plasma, only 15-keto-PGF₂ was detectable, which may indicate that the ewe lung lacks the ^{1 3} -reductase enzyme. Both 15-keto-PGF₂ and 13, 14-dihydro-15-keto-PGF₂ were detectable in uterine venous plasma, but no differences in the concentrations of these metabolites were found between pregnant and nonpregnant ewes. In the second study, patterns of concentrations of PGF₂ in plasma were parallel between left and right uterine branches of ovarian veins (UBOV) in nonpregnant ewes on days 7 and 13 postestrus. Profiles of PGF₂ were essentially parallel in plasma from the left and right UBOV among pregnant and nonpregnant ewes on day 15 postestrus in the third experiment. Number and frequency of peaks of PGF₂ were not different in plasma from left and right UBOV among nonpregnant ewes on days 7 and 13 or among pregnant and nonpregnant ewes on day 15 postestrus. It is concluded that prevention of luteolysis in the pregnant ewe cannot be explained entirely by changes in patterns of concentrations of PGF₂ or its primary metabolites in uterine venous plasma.

¹ Division of Animal and Veterinary Sciences and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, West Virginia University. Published with the approval of the Director of the Agricultural Experimental Station as Scientific Paper No. 1409. Supported by NICHD Contract 69-2215 and Regional Hatch Project NE-72.

² Present address: Center for Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611.

³ Fertility Research, The Upjohn Company, Kalamazoo, MI 49001.

⁴ Present address: Department of Animal Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins 80521.

⁵ Present address: Department of Animal Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis 97331.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P. B. Hoyer Regulation of Luteal Regression: The Ewe as a Model Reproductive Sciences, March 1, 1998; 5(2): 49 - 57. [Abstract] [PDF]