title: The anti-oxidative defence system in the isolated rat uterus during spontaneous rhythmic activity.
abstract: Possible interactions between nitric oxide donors, reactive oxygen species and anti-oxidative defence enzymes led us to determine the activities of anti-oxidative defence enzymes in isolated uterine smooth muscle before and after spontaneous rhythmic activity ex vivo. For our experiments we used isolated uteri from female Wistar rats. Our results showed an increase in total superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Mn SOD activities in uterine smooth muscle after spontaneous contractions when compared with nonexercised uterine smooth muscle. The activity of catalase (CAT) and glutathione preoxidase (GSH-Px) were also increased. No statistically significant changes in the activities of glutathione reductase (GR) and CuZn SOD were found. It is known that an organism's anti-oxidative defence system (guarding against excessive reactive oxygen species generation) requires balanced increments in its individual anti-oxidative enzyme activities rather than increases in the activity of only some enzymes without increases in others. Thus, we may conclude that some adaptive responses are found in exercised uterine smooth muscle but are not complete. Therefore, our results indicate that changes in anti-oxidative enzyme activities may influence the results of the examination of substances ex vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Institute for Biological Research Sinisa Stanković, Bulevar Despota Stefana 142, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Slavić
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Appiah
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nikolić-Kokić
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Radojicić
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Spasić
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Milovanović
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Blagojević
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000502:physiology*; D002374:Catalase / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase / Q000378:metabolism; D005980:Glutathione Reductase / Q000378:metabolism; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000378:metabolism; D014590:Uterine Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D014599:Uterus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D002374:Catalase; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; D005980:Glutathione Reductase