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Human Reproduction Update Advance Access published online on November 5, 2008
Human Reproduction Update, doi:10.1093/humupd/dmn048
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Monoamine transporters in human endometrium and decidua

Stefan R. Hansson1, Barbara Bottalico, Vera Noskova and Bertil Casslén

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Lund University Hospital, 221 85 Lund, Sweden

To whom correspondence should be addressed at: 1 Correspondence address. E-mail: stefan.hansson{at}med.lu.se

BACKGROUND: Monoamines play important roles in decidualization, implantation, immune modulation and inflammation. Furthermore, monoamines are potent vasoactive mediators that regulate blood flow and capillary permeability. Regulation of the uterine blood flow is important both during menstruation and pregnancy. Adequate monoamine concentrations are essential for a proper implantation and physiological development of pregnancy. Unlike most transmitter substances, monoamines are recycled by monoamine transporters rather than enzymatically inactivated. Their intracellular fate is influenced by their lower affinity for inactivating enzymes than for vesicular transporters located in intracellular vesicles. Thus, cells are capable not only of recapturizing and degrading monoamines, but also of storing and releasing them in a controlled fashion.

METHODS: The general objective of the present review is to summarize the role of the monoamine transporters in the female human reproduction. Since the transporter proteins critically regulate extracellular monoamine concentrations, knowledge of their distribution and cyclic variation is of great importance for a deeper understanding of the contribution of monoaminergic mechanisms in the reproductive process. MEDLINE was searched for relevant publications from 1950 to 2007.

RESULTS: Two families of monoamine transporters, neuronal and extraneuronal monoamine transporters, are present in the human endometrium and deciduas.

CONCLUSIONS: New knowledge about monoamine metabolism in the endometrium during menstruation and pregnancy will increase understanding of infertility problems and may offer new pharmacological approaches to optimize assisted reproduction.

Key words: decidua / endometrium / histamine / monoamines

Received on April 14, 2008; revised July 8, 2008; accepted on July 23, 2008


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