Interaction between oxytocin and prostaglandin F2 alpha during luteal regression and early pregnancy in sheep

Abstract

The pulsatile release of oxytocin from the corpus luteum in the sheep is responsible for the pulsatile release of prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2 alpha) from the uterus at luteolysis. It has been proposed that PGF2 alpha also reinforces this process by stimulating the release of oxytocin from the corpus luteum. It is, however, unlikely that PGF2 alpha is the major stimulus for oxytocin release at this time. Although the stimulus for the pulsatile release of oxytocin from the corpus luteum appears to reach the ovary from the peripheral circulation, the nature of the stimulus is unknown. Pulses of oxytocin originating from the corpus luteum have also been observed during early pregnancy, but the release of PGF2 alpha, in response to this signal, is abrogated in some way by ovine trophoblast protein-1 (oTP-1). This protein has been shown to inhibit endometrial prostaglandin production and to decrease the amount of PGF2 alpha released in response to oxytocin. Reduction of uterine oxytocin receptor concentrations by conceptus secretory proteins or by interferons related to oTP-1 remains equivocal. Inhibition of uterine oxytocin receptors is, however, probably the major mechanism that prevents luteal regression during early pregnancy. In cyclic sheep the specific inhibition of uterine oxytocin receptors by 1-deamino-2-D-Try (oET)-4-Thr-8-Orn-oxytocin (CAP), a synthetic oxytocin receptor antagonist, inhibits luteal regression and suppresses pulsatile, but not basal, secretion of uterine PGF2 alpha. Thus, the effects of CAP directly parallel the endocrinological changes that occur in early pregnancy in the sheep.