Relaxin is involved in a variety of functions. Among them, relaxin influences gastrointestinal motility in mice mainly regulating the biosynthesis of nitric oxide, considered as the main substance causing smooth muscle relaxations. Relaxin is able to regulate the different nitric oxide synthase expression depending on the gut region considered. Relaxin also counteracts the hypermotility state, ...

BACKGROUND Relaxin hormone peptide is found in porcine follicular and utero-tubal fluids, but its possible actions during early embryo development are still undetermined. Here, we investigated the effects of porcine relaxin during oocyte maturation and embryo development, and gene expression in the pig. METHODS Immature cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were obtained from ovarian follicles of s...

BACKGROUND Varicose veins affect up to 40% of men and up to 51% of women. The pathophysiology of primary varicosis is poorly understood. Theories ranging from incompetence of the venous valves to structural changes in the vein wall have been proposed. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We analyzed the functional state of the intramural smooth muscle cells (n = 14 pairs matched for age and gender)...

The relaxin peptides are a family of hormones that share a structural fold characterized by two chains, A and B, that are cross-braced by three disulfide bonds. Relaxins signal through two different classes of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), leucine-rich repeat-containing GPCRs LGR7 and LGR8 together with GPCR135 and GPCR142, now referred to as the relaxin family peptide (RXFP) receptors 1...

Remodeling of reproductive organs during pregnancy requires degradation and resynthesis of structural barriers to cell invasion. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are enzymes that break down components of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and are essential for tissue remodeling processes. Tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) are important regulators of MMP activity. In the pig, relaxin s...

relaxinnitric oxide synthasesG protein Researchers involved in the study of relaxin have welcomed the article by Hsu et al. [1], who eventually identified the receptors for this hormone. In the past, using labeled relaxin, specific binding sites have been found in several target organs and tissues for this hormone [2–4], but the exact molecular and functional nature of the relaxin receptor rema...

Relaxin is a naturally occurring human peptide initially identified as a reproductive hormone. More recently, relaxin has been shown to play a key role in the maternal hemodynamic and renal adjustments that accommodate pregnancy. An understanding of these physiologic effects has led to the evaluation of relaxin as a pharmacologic agent for the treatment of patients with acute heart failure. Pre...

Relaxin has been reported to influence gastrointestinal motility in mice. However, at present, nothing is known about the effects of relaxin on the electrophysiological properties of the gastrointestinal smooth muscle. In the present experiments relaxin, other than influencing the colonic motility pattern, has been shown to act on cell membrane properties. The results of the present study indic...

Relaxin is known to inhibit cardiac fibrosis. However, it is unclear whether relaxin could regulate the effects of Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA, PKC activator) on cardiac fibrosis. So the influence of relaxin on the cell proliferation and collagen expression induced by PMA in cultured cardiac fibroblasts was studied. It showed that PMA significantly increased cardiac fibroblasts prolife...

During the last two decades synthetic chemistry and molecular biology have transformed the little-known parturition-mediating factor relaxin into a chemically defined entity. Relaxin is a disulfide bond analog of insulin that shows no cross-reactivity to the insulin receptors, causes widening of the birth canal in most mammals, and has additional or different functions in various species. The r...