On the receptor binding site of relaxins

Abstract

Relaxin plays a critical role in viviparity and has recently been implicated as a hormone of oviparity as well. In most mammals relaxin causes the widening of the birth canal during parturition and suppresses uterine motility during pregnancy. Relaxins isolated from several species have shown a great deal of sequence variability, and speculations regarding a putative receptor interaction site have, as a consequence, varied considerably. The isolation of skate relaxin in combination with our chemical modification data enable us to suggest a unique site for the interaction of relaxin with its uterine and symphyseal receptors.