Muscarinic receptor subtypes in normal, fetal, and gravid rabbit bladder, heart and uterus.

In the rabbit bladder, pregnancy has been shown to induce a significant decrease in both muscarinic receptor density and response to muscarinic stimulation. Neonatal rabbit bladders have a high muscarinic receptor density and contractile response to bethanechol stimulation. The bladders from 7 gravid rabbits, 7 age-matched virgin controls, and 32 fetal rabbits of 3 week gestation were studied. Compared to control tissue, filtration binding demonstrated receptor density to be 24.3% lower in gravid bladder dome, 41.2% lower in gravid bladder base, and 114.8% higher in fetal bladders. While total receptor density was not different from control in gravid heart, fetal hearts showed a 2.5 fold increased receptor density. There was also a 61% reduction in muscarinic receptor density in the gravid uterus. Immunoprecipitation assays using muscarinic receptor subtype specific antisera were used to measure the relative levels of m1, m2, m3 and m4 receptors. The m2 receptor was the predominant subtype in the bladder and uterus, and the only subtype detected in rabbit heart. The m3 receptor protein was also present, but in lower levels in the bladder and uterus. The m1 and m4 receptors were not detected in any of the tissues studied. Furthermore, the relative percent of each receptor did not statistically change for the gravid or fetal rabbit bladder, uterus, or heart, when compared to its control. Differences in the contractile response to cholinergic stimulation of the gravid bladder and uterus, and of the fetal bladder then, can be attributed to changes in muscarinic receptor density and not to changes in receptor subtype.