A Review of the Actions of Endogenous and Exogenous Vasoactive Substances during the Estrous Cycle and Pregnancy in Rats

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The vascular endothelium plays an essential role in regulating cardiovascular homeostasis by controlling the vascular tone. However, it is known that variations of sex hormones in the female during the reproductive cycle have a significant impact on the homeostasis of the female cardiovascular system. Therefore, this review shows an overview of how the vascular smooth muscle response is altered in the presence of some endogenous and exogenous substances with vasoactive actions during the estrous cycle and during pregnancy in rats. We performed a systematic review of the literature using the Web of Science, PubMed, and Scielo database through multiple combinations of terms. We selected only those terms that coincided with the objectives of this study. The result of the review shows that several studies have observed both vasoconstrictive and vasodilatory responses induced by vasoactive substances during the estrous cycle and in ovariectomized and pregnant rats. The understanding of these effects is essential to optimize and develop new treatments for some vascular pathologies. ABSTRACT: Vascular endothelium plays a key role in regulating cardiovascular homeostasis by controlling the vascular tone. Variations in sex hormones during the reproductive cycle of females affect the homeostasis of the cardiovascular system. Also, the evidence shows that estrogens show a cardioprotective effect. On this basis, this study describes some vascular responses induced by vasoactive substances during the estrous cycle in rats. We obtained the information available on this topic from the online databases that included scientific articles published in the Web of Science, PubMed, and Scielo. Many investigations have evaluated the vasoactive response of substances such as acetylcholine and norepinephrine during the estrous cycle. In this review, we specifically described the vascular response to vasoactive substances in rats during the estrous cycle, pregnancy, and in ovariectomized rats. In addition, we discussed the existence of different signaling pathways that modulate vascular function. The knowledge of these effects is relevant for the optimization and development of new treatments for some vascular pathologies.