To contract or not: A key question for the uterine muscles in pregnancy

During pregnancy, the muscles of the uterus are relatively inactive. A switch to an activated state capable of strong contractions is therefore essential prior to the onset of labour. Kathleen Martin and colleagues, at Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon, have now provided new insight into the events that prime the uterine muscles for contraction, something that they hope might have implications for the development of therapies for preterm labour (i.e., labour that occurs before 37 weeks of pregnancy), the most serious complication of pregnancy in developed countries...

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