Relaxin's physiological roles and other diverse actions.

@article{Sherwood2004RelaxinsPR,
  title={Relaxin's physiological roles and other diverse actions.},
  author={O. David Sherwood},
  journal={Endocrine reviews},
  year={2004},
  volume={25 2},
  pages={
          205-34
        }
}
  • O. Sherwood
  • Published 1 April 2004
  • Biology
  • Endocrine reviews
Relaxin has vital physiological roles in pregnant rats, mice, and pigs. Relaxin promotes growth and softening of the cervix, thus facilitating rapid delivery of live young. Relaxin also promotes development of the mammary apparatus, thus enabling normal lactational performance. The actions of relaxin on the mammary apparatus vary among species. Whereas relaxin is required for development of the mammary nipples in rats and mice, it is essential for prepartum development of glandular parenchyma… 
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New Insights into Biological Roles of Relaxin and Relaxin-related Peptides
TLDR
The physiological importance of relaxins and INSL3 has become more clear with advances in the studies of various genetic models; however, the roles of other family peptides remain to be investigated.
Relaxin and the progression of kidney disease
TLDR
Accumulating evidence from studies at the preclinical and clinical level has demonstrated a potential antifibrotic and regenerative capacity of relaxin, directly relevant to the kidney.
The Role of Relaxin in Normal and Abnormal Uterine Function During the Menstrual Cycle and Early Pregnancy
TLDR
Current knowledge regarding relaxin actions in the human uterus during the menstrual cycle and in early pregnancy is reviewed, with a focus on its potential roles in various gynecological disorders, as well as the pregnancy disorders such as preeclampsia, recurrent miscarriage, and early pregnancy loss.
Emerging role of relaxin in the maternal adaptations to normal pregnancy: implications for preeclampsia.
  • K. Conrad
  • Biology, Medicine
    Seminars in nephrology
  • 2011
Unveiling the vasodilatory actions and mechanisms of relaxin.
Relaxin is a 6-kDa peptide hormone that is secreted from the corpus luteum of the ovary and circulates in the blood during pregnancy in several species, including humans, rats, and mice1 (see…
RELAXIN REGULATES SYSTEMIC HEMODYNAMICS AND ARTERIAL WALL MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
TLDR
The hormone was essential for the transition of the systemic circulation from the virgin to the pregnant state and exerts systemic vasodilatory effects in both pregnant and nonpregnant states and in a gender-independent manner.
Relaxin antagonizes hypertrophy and apoptosis in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes.
TLDR
Results extend current knowledge of the cardiac actions of relaxin by demonstrating that H2-relaxin indirectly inhibits CM hypertrophy and directly protects CM from apoptosis.
Relaxin physiology in the female reproductive tract during pregnancy.
TLDR
This chapter provides an overview of the current literature on relaxin physiology in the uterus, cervix and vagina of pregnant females and the impact on fetal health and outlines the potential mechanisms of relaxin action, particularly in the cervical extracellular matrix and uterine endometrium.
Relaxin Regulates Endometrial Structure and Function in the Rhesus Monkey
TLDR
The findings that relaxin stimulates new blood vessel formation while maintaining endometrial connective tissue integrity are consistent with a significant role of relaxin in the establishment and/or maintenance of early pregnancy.
Maternal vasodilation in pregnancy: the emerging role of relaxin.
  • K. Conrad
  • Biology, Medicine
    American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology
  • 2011
TLDR
Data implicate relaxin as one of the vasodilatory reproductive hormones of pregnancy, and this goal may translate into therapeutics for pregnancy pathologies such as preeclampsia and for diseases associated with vasoconstriction and arterial stiffness in nonpregnant women and men.
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References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 371 REFERENCES
Relaxin is essential for renal vasodilation during pregnancy in conscious rats.
TLDR
The results indicate that relaxin mediates the renal vasodilatory responses to pregnancy and thus may be important for maternal and fetal health, and raise the likelihood of a role for relaxin in other cardiovascular changes of pregnancy, and suggest that it should be considered a regulator of cardiovascular function.
Identification of specific relaxin-binding cells in the cervix, mammary glands, nipples, small intestine, and skin of pregnant pigs.
TLDR
It is concluded that the specific relaxin-binding cells in the cervix, mammary glands, nipples, small intestine, and skin of the pregnant pig probably contain relaxin receptors and, therefore, mediate relaxin's effects in these tissues.
Effects of relaxin on the endometrial stroma. Studies in mice.
TLDR
The results obtained show that relaxin causes a striking increase in the protein-synthesizing machinery of endometrial stromal cells, leading them to resemble closely the decidualized cells of rodent pregnant uterus, allowing for relaxin to be regarded as an agent capable of promotingDecidual transformation of endometricrial stroma cells and, possibly, to participate in the events that lead to blastocyst implantation.
Expression of the relaxin gene in rat tissues
Relaxin acts directly on rat mammary nipples to stimulate their growth.
TLDR
It is concluded that relaxin stimulates the growth of rat mammary nipples at least in part through direct actions in the nipples, and that estrogen is not required for these actions.
Uterine growth-promoting effects of relaxin: a morphometric and histological analysis.
TLDR
Investigation of the uterine effects of relaxin in immature and mature ovariectomized, estrogen-primed rats using morphometric and histochemical analysis found that relaxin alters the connective tissue framework of both endometrium and myometrium.
Sources and biological actions of relaxin in pigs.
TLDR
Uterotrophic effects of relaxin have been reported in rodents and swine and support the hypothesis that relaxin promotes uterine growth and expansion in early pregnancy to accommodate the growing fetuses.
Evidence that cellular proliferation contributes to relaxin-induced growth of both the vagina and the cervix in the pregnant rat.
TLDR
This study demonstrates that vaginal growth during the second half of rat pregnancy is R dependent and provides evidence that R may contribute to both vaginal and cervical growth by promoting cellular proliferation.
Recombinant Human Relaxin in the Treatment of Scleroderma
Relaxin, a heterodimer protein with a molecular weight of 6000, is secreted by the corpus luteum and placenta during pregnancy (1, 2). It is structurally related to insulin and insulin-like growth…
Monoclonal antibodies specific for rat relaxin. IX. Evidence that endogenous relaxin promotes growth of the vagina during the second half of pregnancy in rats.
TLDR
It is concluded that endogenous relaxin promotes growth of the vagina in pregnant rats, and this observation supports the view that relaxin induces vaginal growth at least in part by promoting cell proliferation.
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