Abstract
The number and appearance of uterine myometrial gap junctions in spontaneously delivering rats was evaluated as a function of dietary zinc. Based on quantitative electron microscopy, the number of gap junctions detected in the tissue from zinc-deficient rats was only 49 or 39% ofad-libitum-fed controls, dependent on the basis of comparison (per cell or per 1000 μm membrane). Moderate food restriction (pair-feeding to the voluntary intake of the zinc-deficient rats) reduced the number to 70% of thead-libitum-fed control. The results are interpreted as contributory to the irregular and poorly synchronized uterine pressure cycle patterns previously detected in zinc-deficient female rats and may indicate poor compliance to estrogen-controlled gene expression.
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Dylewski, D.P., Lytton, F.D.C. & Bunce, G.E. Dietary zinc and parturition in the rat. Biol Trace Elem Res 9, 165–175 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02916524
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02916524