Effects of ovarian hormone treatment on Ca(2+)-induced contractions and Ca(2+)-antagonism in the depolarized rat myometrium.

The effects of estrogen (E), progesterone (P) and estrogen plus progesterone (E+P) treatment on Ca-induced contraction in the KCL-depolarized uterine muscle, and the influences on the Ca2+ antagonism induced by reserpine and verapamil "in vitro" were studied. Uterine muscles from rats in estrus were taken as controls. Uteri from spayed untreated rats showed the same sensitivity to Ca2+ as those from estrus rats, but castration decreased maximal contractile tension to Ca2+ and Ca2+ threshold. P treatment failed to modified the effects of castration on the responses to Ca2+. E or E+P treatments decreased the sensitivity to Ca2+ but only E+P increased slope values and maximal contractile tension. E and E+P increased the potency of verapamil Ca2+ antagonism but none of the treatments modified reserpine direct inhibitory effects. The results obtained suggest that alterations on uterine contractility by hormone treatment are the result of complex interactions between both genomic effects on the contractile process as well as non-genomic direct actions of the hormones on Ca2+ membrane permeability.