Receptor‐mediated uterine effects of vasopressin and oxytocin in nonpregnant women

Abstract

The high potency of vasopressin in nonpregnant women, particularly premenstrually, firmly supports an aetiological importance of this peptide in the uterine hyperactivity of primary dysmenorrhoea. Oxytocin seems to be less important in this condition in view of its much smaller potency and the absence of increase in effect premenstrually. Vasopressin appears to influence both the oxytocin and the vasopressin V1a receptor sites in the uterus, whereas oxytocin acts specifically on its own receptor.