The Effect of the Ovarian Steroids on the Membrane Potential of Uterine Muscle

Abstract

Measurements with flexible intracellular microelectrodes show that the rabbit myometrium when insufficiently stimulated by estrogen has a low membrane potential of about 30 to 35 mv. Estrogen (endogenous or exogenous) increases this value up to 43 to 48 mv., whereas progesterone increases it still further up to 55 to 60 mv.