Effect of catechol oestrogens on extraneuronal metabolism of noradrenaline by rabbit uterine endometrium and myometrium.

The effects of 2-hydroxy and 2-methoxy oestrogens on the extraneuronal O-methylation of 3H-(-)-noradrenaline were examined in progesterone-dominated, monoamine oxidase (MAO)-inhibited, rabbit uterine tissues in vitro. Both the corticosteroid-sensitive system in myometrium and the cocaine-sensitive system in endometrium were examined. In myometrial slices preincubated with nialamide to inhibit MAO and incubated with cocaine to inhibit neuronal uptake, 3H-normetanephrine (3H-NMN) formation was inhibited in the order of potency 2-hydroxy oestrone greater than or equal to 2-hydroxy oestradiol = 2-methoxy oestradiol greater than or equal to 2-methoxy oestrone. In myometrial slices not exposed to cocaine and nialamide, inhibition of 3H-NMN formation by both 2-hydroxy and 2-methoxy oestradiol did not affect the formation of deaminated metabolites of 3H-(-)-noradrenaline by the alternative metabolising pathway. In endometrial slices preincubated with nialamide to inhibit MAO, only 2-hydroxy oestrogens inhibited 3H-NMN formation, but they were one to two orders of magnitude less potent in this regard than in the myometrium. The uptake of 3H-(-)-noradrenaline by MAO- and COMT-inhibited myometrial slices was inhibited by 2-hydroxy and 2-methoxy oestrogens in the order of potency 2-methoxy oestradiol greater than or equal to 2-methoxy oestrone greater than or equal to 2-hydroxy oestrone greater than 2-hydroxy oestradiol. Uptake of 3H-(-)-noradrenaline by endometrial slices was not affected by either 2-hydroxy or 2-methoxy oestrogens.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)