Abstract
The electrical and mechanical activity of the ampullary region of human fallopian tubes was recorded, and the effects of catecholamine on the contractile activity, in different stages of the ovarian cycle, were investigated. The effects of noradrenaline on mechanical activity were analyzed on a computer by Fourier analysis. The tubes were classified according to the stage of the menstrual cycle and the endometrial histology. The following results were obtained: 1) During the proliferative phase, preparations contracted at the highest frequency, which increased regularly from the beginning to the end of that phase. After ovulation, the frequency and regularity both decreased progressively to the end of the secretory phase, when the contractions tended to merge. In the proliferative phase, the maximum relative power component occurred at a period of 9.1 sec. in the beginning, at 7.2 sec, in the end, and was very narrow. Contraction in the beginning of the secretory phase had its maximum relative power component, which contained more than 50% of the energy, at 11.7 sec. and at the end of that phase, the maximum relative power component, which contained less than 30% of the total energy, was at 25.9 sec. Contraction was irregular near the end of the secretory phase. 2) Contraction in response to noradrenaline was depressed by pre-treatment with an α-blocking agent and enhanced by pre-treatment with a 13-blocking agent. Contraction was induced by α-stimulants and depressed by β-stimulants. In the proliferative phase, α-stimulation due to noradrenaline occurred throughout the ovarian cycle. 3) When noradrenaline was administered, the relative average area under contraction curve increased 35.1% above the control in the proliferative phase, but decreased 44.3% in the secretory phase. Contraction was induced by α-stimulation in the proliferative phase, therefore, contraction in response to noradrenaline changed from a-dominant to α-dominant in the secretory phase. 4) Contraction in response to adrenaline was similar to that in response to noradrenaline. Contracion in response to isoproterenol was depressed, i. e. contraction was depressed by β-stimulation.
