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Receptor-coupled contractility of uterine smooth muscle: from membrane to myofilaments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2001

Y.-H. Lee ,
M.-K. Hwang ,
K. G. Morgan  and
Michael J. Taggart
Y.-H. Lee
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine and the Maternal & Fetal Health Research Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9WL, UK, Boston Biomedical Research Institute, Watertown, MA, USA, Cardiovascular Division, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA and Department of Physiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
M.-K. Hwang
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine and the Maternal & Fetal Health Research Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9WL, UK, Boston Biomedical Research Institute, Watertown, MA, USA, Cardiovascular Division, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA and Department of Physiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
K. G. Morgan
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine and the Maternal & Fetal Health Research Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9WL, UK, Boston Biomedical Research Institute, Watertown, MA, USA, Cardiovascular Division, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA and Department of Physiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
Michael J. Taggart
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine and the Maternal & Fetal Health Research Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9WL, UK, Boston Biomedical Research Institute, Watertown, MA, USA, Cardiovascular Division, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA and Department of Physiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
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Abstract

A comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms by which agonists control uterine contraction is essential for the successful clinical management of parturition and for the timely treatment of situations involving inappropriate uterine performance. In this review we discuss some of the key stimulatory mechanisms linking receptor occupation at the myometrial plasma membrane with alteration of myofilament activation. We focus on evidence that receptor-induced membranous recruitment of the small G-protein rhoA, and its downstream effector rho-associated kinase (ROK) is crucial to agonist-induced Ca2+-sensitisation of uterine contraction and that co-ordination of this signal transduction pathway may be mediated by the actions of caveolins, proteins integral to specialised membranous regions termed caveolae. Experimental Physiology (2001) 86.2, 283-288.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Physiology , Volume 86 , Issue 2 , March 2001 , pp. 283 - 288
Copyright
© The Physiological Society 2001

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