Spontaneous term labour is associated with increased inflammatory events in the myometrium including cytokine production and leukocyte infiltration. We hypothesized that mechanical stretch of the uterine wall by the growing fetus facilitates peripheral leukocyte transendothelial migration into the term pregnant myometrium through the release of various cytokines. The current study demonstrated that static mechanical stretch directly induces secretion of multiple cytokines and chemokines by human myometrial smooth muscle cells. Stretch-induced cytokines (1) increased vascular permeability; (2) enhanced leukocyte adhesion to the endothelium of the surrounding uterine microvasculature by (3) inducing the expression of endothelial cell adhesion molecules; and (4) directed the transendothelial migration of peripheral neutrophils. Our data provide a direct proof of mechanical regulation in leukocyte recruitment from the uterine blood vessels, which represents a putative mechanism for the leukocyte infiltrate seen in the myometrium during labour and postpartum involution.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/43049 |
| Date | 03 December 2013 |
| Creators | Lee, Yu-Hui |
| Contributors | Lye, Stephen J. |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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