Premature infants are likely to suffer from life-long debilitating morbidities and even death. Spontaneous preterm labor accounts for 50% of preterm births. However, no effective intervention is yet available to stop preterm labor. This is due to a lack of understanding of the mechanisms involved in preterm labor initiation.
The researchers from the University of Nevada, USA, studied smooth muscle tissue samples of the uterus to explore the mechanistic pathways maintaining the quiescence state of the uterus until labor and identified Piezo1, a mechanosensitive cation channel, as a regulator of uterine quiescence . It is present in the uterine smooth muscle and microvascular endothelium of pregnant myometrium. Regulation of the quiescence state : Piezo1 works in a dose-dependent manner, upregulated by the chemical Yoda1 and downregulated by a chemical called Dooku1. Upregulation of…
