Beta-adrenoceptor tocolysis and effects on the heart of fetus and neonate. A review.

A literature of 92 scientific papers addressing the effects of beta-adrenoceptor stimulation on the heart have been collected with the support of a computer-based MEDLINE system and critically examined. Neither in animal experiments nor in a wide clinical use of tocolytics for more than two decades has a risk for the hearts of fetus and neonate been confirmed, because there is no or only very little stimulating action on the beta-adrenoceptors of fetal and newborn's hearts as their sympathetic innervation is still immature.