ArticleBiology of reproduction2011
Transection of the pelvic or vagus nerve forestalls ripening of the cervix and delays birth in rats.
Article in Biology of reproduction, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- PIEZO channels link mechanical forces to uterine contractions in parturition.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2025Article
- Restricted mating windows and thrombospondin 2 gene deletion improve the precision of parturition timing in mice†.Biology of reproduction · 2025Article
- Progesterone regulation of cervix ripening in preterm and term birth in mice.Reproduction (Cambridge, England) · 2025Article
- Clinical chorioamnionitis at term is characterized by changes in the plasma concentration of CHCHD2/MNRR1, a mitochondrial protein.The journal of maternal-fetal & neonatal medicine : the official journal of the European Association of Perinatal Medicine, the Federation of Asia and Oceania Perinatal Societies, the International Society of Perinatal Obstetricians · 2023Article
- Birth, love, and fear: Physiological networks from pregnancy to parenthood.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2022Review
- Transcriptome changes in maternal peripheral blood during term parturition mimic perturbations preceding spontaneous preterm birth†.Biology of reproduction · 2022Article
- Gasdermin D:The journal of maternal-fetal & neonatal medicine : the official journal of the European Association of Perinatal Medicine, the Federation of Asia and Oceania Perinatal Societies, the International Society of Perinatal Obstetricians · 2021Article
- Human β-defensin-3 participates in intra-amniotic host defense in women with labor at term, spontaneous preterm labor and intact membranes, and preterm prelabor rupture of membranes.The journal of maternal-fetal & neonatal medicine : the official journal of the European Association of Perinatal Medicine, the Federation of Asia and Oceania Perinatal Societies, the International Society of Perinatal Obstetricians · 2020Article
- The effects of advanced maternal age on T-cell subsets at the maternal-fetal interface prior to term labor and in the offspring: a mouse study.Clinical and experimental immunology · 2020Article
- Duration of labor, delivery mode and maternal and neonatal morbidity after remifentanil patient-controlled analgesia compared with epidural analgesia.European journal of obstetrics & gynecology and reproductive biology: X · 2020Article
- Cell-Free Fetal DNA Increases Prior to Labor at Term and in a Subset of Preterm Births.Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2020Article
- Inflammasomes: Their Role in Normal and Complicated Pregnancies.Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) · 2019Review
- In vivo evidence of inflammasome activation during spontaneous labor at term.The journal of maternal-fetal & neonatal medicine : the official journal of the European Association of Perinatal Medicine, the Federation of Asia and Oceania Perinatal Societies, the International Society of Perinatal Obstetricians · 2019Article
- A Role for the Inflammasome in Spontaneous Labor at Term.American journal of reproductive immunology (New York, N.Y. : 1989) · 2018Article
- Vagus nerve stimulation in pregnant rats and effects on inflammatory markers in the brainstem of neonates.Pediatric research · 2018Article
- Fetal death: an extreme manifestation of maternal anti-fetal rejection.Journal of perinatal medicine · 2017Article
- Contributions to the dynamics of cervix remodeling prior to term and preterm birth.Biology of reproduction · 2017Review
- Macrophage gene expression associated with remodeling of the prepartum rat cervix: microarray and pathway analyses.PloS one · 2015Article
- Estrogen and female reproductive tract innervation: cellular and molecular mechanisms of autonomic neuroplasticity.Autonomic neuroscience : basic & clinical · 2015Review
- Prevention of preterm birth by progestational agents: what are the molecular mechanisms?American journal of obstetrics and gynecology · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Innervation of the cervix is important for normal timing of birth because transection of the pelvic nerve forestalls birth and causes dystocia. To discover whether transection of the parasympathetic innervation of the cervix affects cervical ripening in the process of parturition was the objective of the present study. Rats on Day 16 of pregnancy had the pelvic nerve (PnX) or the vagus nerve (VnX) or both pathways (PnX+VnX) transected, sham-operated (Sham) or nonpregnant rats served as controls. Sections of fixed peripartum cervix were stained for collagen or processed by immunohistochemistry to identify macrophages and nerve fibers. All Sham controls delivered by the morning of Day 22 postbreeding, while births were delayed in more than 75% of neurectomized rats by more than 12 h. Dystocia was evident in more than 25% of the PnX and PnX+VnX rats. Moreover, on prepartum Day 21, serum progesterone was increased severalfold in neurectomized versus Sham rats. Assessments of cell nuclei counts indicated that the cervix of neurectomized rats and Sham controls had become equally hypertrophied compared to the unripe cervix in nonpregnant rats. Collagen content and structure were reduced in the cervix of all pregnant rats, whether neurectomized or Shams, versus that in nonpregnant rats. Stereological analysis of cervix sections found reduced numbers of resident macrophages in prepartum PnX and PnX+VnX rats on Day 21 postbreeding, as well as in VnX rats on Day 22 postbreeding compared to that in Sham controls. Finally, nerve transections blocked the prepartum increase in innervation that occurred in Sham rats on Day 21 postbreeding. These findings indicate that parasympathetic innervation of the cervix mediates local inflammatory processes, withdrawal of progesterone in circulation, and the normal timing of birth. Therefore, pelvic and vagal nerves regulate macrophage immigration and nerve fiber density but may not be involved in final remodeling of the extracellular matrix in the prepartum cervix. These findings support the contention that immigration of immune cells and enhanced innervation are involved in processes that remodel the cervix and time parturition.
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