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Intra-aortic injection of [3-¹⁴C]5-hydroxytryptamine creatinine sulphate ([¹⁴C]5-HT) into oestrogen or oestrogen-progestogen treated rats showed a pattern of homogeneous uptake similar to that found in untreated normal rats. In pregnant rats the injection resulted in a preferential uptake by the myometrium. Injection of a MAO inhibitor (pargyline hydrochloride, Eutonyl) into the amniotic sac, preceding the [₁₄C]5-HT injection by 30 min., changed this pattern to a preferential accumulation in the myometrium and the spleen, perhaps due to unhampered transport of preserved 5-HT by the thrombocytes to the spleen. When [¹⁴C]5-HT was injected i.p. into the foetuses they retained high amounts of exogenous 5-HT. Myometrium and placenta also showed increased 5-HT uptake.

This finding—taken together with the established fact that foetal 5-HT increases and placental monoamine oxidase decreases steadily up to term—suggests that at term the release of foetal 5-HT may enrich the maternal myometrium with 5-HT through the umbilical arteries without its entering the general blood circulation. It is also possible that additional maternal 5-HT may accumulate in the myometrium sensitized by the oestrogen surge at term. The importance of these mechanisms for the induction of labour is discussed.