Comparative Assessment of Disturbances of Contractions of the Isolated Uterus in 3- and 9-Month-Old Rats with a Model of Autism.

We performed a comparative study of the effects of carbachol, α,β-methylene-ATP, β,γ-methylene-ATP, and electric field stimulation on the contractile activity of the isolated uterus from rats aged 3 and 9 months with valproic model of autism. The contractile responses of isolated rat uterine preparations induced by P2X-receptor agonists α,β-methylene-ATP and β,γ-methylene-ATP were significantly lower than in the control. In addition, the contractions of the isolated uterus of 9-month-old rats induced by carbachol were significantly lower than in controls. No significant differences in uterine smooth muscle contractions in both age groups of rats induced by electric field stimulation in comparison with the control were found. Thus, significant impairment of uterine contractile activity was revealed in rats with valproic model of autism, which persisted up to the age of 9 months. The absence of changes in the contractions induced by electric field stimulation suggests that the changes in the contractile activity of the uterus of the rats with modeled autism spectrum disorder are caused by the disorders occurring at the postsynaptic level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]