[Adrenergic innervation and norepinephrine content in postnatal rat uterus].

Using fluorescent histochemical method and high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detector, we investigated adrenergic innervation and norepinephrine content in the rat uterus in the process of the growth. The adrenergic nerve terminals in the rat uterus developed with age and reached to adult level at 7 weeks of age after birth, although the short adrenergic ganglionic cells and small intense fluorescent cells were present even at birth. Norepinephrine content per organ also increased with age and reached to adult level at 10 weeks of age after birth, while NE content per gram wet tissue weight had a peak in 3-day-old rat uterus. These morphological and biochemical data revealed that the sympathetic nervous system in rat uterus matures in 7 to 10 weeks after birth, while the short adrenergic nervous system is accomplished in earlier stage. The maturation of adrenergic innervation in the uterus was considerably later than in the other organs of rat and developed with the sexual maturation.