Enhanced excitability of the uterus of the pregnant rabbit by imidazole stimulation of cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase.

Imidazole, at concentrations between 10(-3) and 10(-2) M, exerts a profound stimulatory effect on rabbit uterine strips obtained during pregnancy and studied isometrically in vitro. The action is not duplicated by N-alkylimidazoles which have greater potency as inhibitors of thromboxane synthetase but the effect of imidazole was antagonized by isoproterenol or theophylline. Biochemical analysis indicated that imidazole at concentrations greater than 5 x 10(-4) M stimulated both high and low affinity forms of cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase. The uterus of pregnant rabbits is profoundly refractory to any kind of pharmacological stimulation and the effects of imidazole, acting to stimulate phosphodiesterase, suggest that the integrity of the adenyl cyclase-cyclic AMP-protein kinase system is a necessary requirement for this organ to remain quiescent during pregnancy.