You are here: Home :: Area NEM :: Medical science :: Human medicine

C. T. Fittkow, S.-Q. Shi, E. Bytautiene, G. Olson, G. R. Saade, R. E. Garfield

Changes in light-induced fluorescence of cervical collagen in guinea pigs during gestation and after sodium nitroprusside treatment

Lightinduced fluorescence (LIF) of collagen was used to investigate in vivo changes in cervical collagen in guinea pigs during gestation and following sodium nitroprusside treatment. Natural fluorescence of collagen is due to collagen cross-linking molecules that connect single collagen fibers and therefore provide rigidity of the cervical stroma. LIF of cervical collagen was measured from the surface of the exocervix in anesthetized nonpregnant and timed pregnant guinea pigs at different times of gestation with an instrument designed in our lab (Collascope?). Measurements were also performed in guinea pigs at midgestation before and 8 hours after intracervical treat ment with sodium nitroprusside. Collagen fluorescence decreased significantly as pregnancy progressed, reached lowest values at delivery, and increased gradually postpartum. Treatment with sodium nitroprusside, but not with the vehicle, caused a significant decrease in LIF (p = 0.007). We conclude, that LIF changes in the cervix reflect the gradual cervical softening (ripening) during pregnancy and the return to the rigid state of the cervix postpartum. Cervical softening during pregnancy, and after sodium nitroprusside treatment, is associated with a decrease in collagen cross-links. Measurements of LIF can be used to investigate cervical softening in vivo.

Journal of Perinatal Medicine, Walter de Gruyter

Print ISSN: 1619-3997
Volume: 29, 11/2001
Pages: 535 - 543

Show full article (external site)

Show all available items of this journal

 

Area NEM