Feto-placental communication system with the myometrium inpregnancy and parturition: The role of hormones, neurohormones, inflammatory mediators, and locally active factors

Pregnancy is a unique condition in which the conceptus is allowed to implant, survive, develop, and reach a considerable organ growth and maturation within the maternal body despite the fact that it is half genetically different from the mother. Moreover, it deeply influences the overall endocrine,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journal of maternal-fetal & neonatal medicine 2006-01, Vol.19 (3), p.125-133
Main Authors: Ticconi, Carlo, Belmonte, Alessia, Piccione, Emilio, Rao, Ch. V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Female
Fetus
hormones
Hormones - physiology
Humans
Inflammation Mediators - physiology
inflammatory mediators
labor
Maternal-Fetal Exchange - physiology
Models, Biological
myometrium
Myometrium - physiology
neurohormones
Parturition - physiology
placenta
Placental Hormones - physiology
Pregnancy
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Summary:Pregnancy is a unique condition in which the conceptus is allowed to implant, survive, develop, and reach a considerable organ growth and maturation within the maternal body despite the fact that it is half genetically different from the mother. Moreover, it deeply influences the overall endocrine, metabolic, and immunological functions of the recipient mother. These objectives are accomplished through the establishment of several communication systems in which a large array of substances produced by the feto-placental unit reach specific maternal target organs and or systems and modulate their function. The myometrium is a fundamental reproductive tissue involved in pregnancy maintenance as well as in labor onset and progression and is a potential target organ for such a communication system. An appropriate regulation of myometrial function is a key condition required for pregnancy to develop physiologically until full term is reached and for labor to start. Emerging experimental and clinical evidence suggests that a very complex feto-placental biomolecular communication system exists with the myometrium and is actively operative in the control of myometrial contractility in pregnancy and parturition through the production of a continuously increasing number of substances with endocrine, paracrine, and immunoregulatory actions.
ISSN:1476-7058
1476-4954
DOI:10.1080/14767050600555808