Marshall J M
Am J Physiol. 1981 May;240(5):C165-74. doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.1981.240.5.C165.
This review concerns the influence of ovarian steroids and of pregnancy on norepinephrine (NE) metabolism in the adrenergic neurons of the female reproductive tract and speculates on the physiological consequences of this influence. Estrogen and progesterone affect not only the NE content of these nerves but also the turnover of NE, the activity of its synthetic enzyme, and releases of NE from nerve terminals. During pregnancy additional factors including stretch-induced hypertrophy come into play and cause degeneration of the nerves in the uterine corpus. This degeneration makes the muscle supersensitive to NE and may also induce morphological changes in the muscle cell membrane. As a result there may be a withdrawal of neural inhibitory influences on the corpus, allowing spontaneous myogenic contractions to intensify. Although the physiological significance of the steroid-transmitter interactions are still unclear, these nerves per se are of interest because they represent a model system for the study of neuroendocrine regulation in the peripheral nervous system.
本综述关注卵巢甾体激素和妊娠对雌性生殖道肾上腺素能神经元中去甲肾上腺素（NE）代谢的影响，并推测这种影响的生理后果。雌激素和孕激素不仅影响这些神经的NE含量，还影响NE的周转、其合成酶的活性以及神经末梢释放NE。在怀孕期间，包括牵张诱导的肥大在内的其他因素开始起作用，并导致子宫体神经变性。这种变性使肌肉对NE超敏，也可能诱导肌细胞膜的形态变化。结果可能会撤销对子宫体的神经抑制作用，使自发性肌源性收缩增强。尽管甾体激素与递质相互作用的生理意义仍不清楚，但这些神经本身很值得关注，因为它们代表了一个研究外周神经系统神经内分泌调节的模型系统。
