AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 262, Issue 4 666-R670, Copyright © 1992 by American Physiological Society
Reproductive organ blood flow measured using radioactive microspheres in diestrous and estrous mice
R. T. Dowell, C. G. Gairola and J. N. Diana
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40546-0236.
Blood flow is a primary mechanism controlling reproductive organ functions.
In the present study, radioactive microsphere techniques were adapted to
measure ovarian, uterine, and vaginal blood flow levels in C57BL mice.
Anesthetized animals were tracheostomized and the left carotid artery was
cannulated. The heart was exposed and 113Sn-labeled spheres (15 microns
size, 2 microCi, 0.1 ml) were injected via the left ventricle. Reference
sample was obtained by carotid artery blood "free flowing" into a tared
microfuge tube for 1 min. The animal was killed, and selected tissues were
excised for weighing and radioactivity measurement to determine flow.
Absence of differences in flow levels (ml.min-1.g-1) to paired
nonreproductive organs (adrenals and kidneys) validated the procedure.
Blood flow levels were significantly higher in the ovaries, but not in the
uterus and vagina of estrous mice vs. diestrous mice. Comparison of left
vs. right ovaries suggested consistent blood flow distribution during
diestrus. Ovarian blood flow level is enhanced during estrus and, in
addition, is highly nonuniform regarding right-left flow distribution.
Nonuniform ovarian blood flow distribution in estrous mice leads us to
speculate that alternating right-left (i.e. nonuniform) ovulation
predominates during each murine estrous cycle.
