Effect of oxytocin on the contractility of the human oviduct in vivo

Abstract

The recent development of new techniques for the chronic recording of fallopian intratubal pressure in ambulatory patients enabled the study of tubal contractility during normal and occasionally in anovulatory menstrual cycles. The pharmacologic effect of different drugs on intratubal pressures was also assessed. The recordings reveal that the most typical sign of tubal activity is bursts of contractions at regular intervals. They are apparent throughout the whole cycle, but are more intensive during menstruation, and considerably diminished during the luteal phase. The asynchronism of these bursts in both tubes of a single patient suggests a local stimulating factor. The role of tubal muscular activity in ovum transport is difficult to assess at present because no experiments combining the 2 unknowns can as yet be performed due to technological limitations. Pharmacological studies performed with posterior pituitary lobe hormones have shown that, contrary to the response of the nongrav