Alteration in the Collagen Content of the Human Uterus During Pregnancy and Post Partum Involution

The physiological resorption of collagen during recovery from experimental cirrhosis was demonstrated in 1947 (1). Factors which influence the deposition and disappearance of collagen in experimental cirrhosis, as well as the phenomenon of the regression of scar tissue, were examined subsequently (2, 3). A striking resorption of collagen from the rat uterus following parturition was described by Harkness and Harkness in 1954 (4). Later these authors (5), and Harkness and Moralee (6), suggested that the post partum uterus is especially suitable for investigation of the physiological dissolution and catabolism of endogenous collagen. The present study was undertaken to determine the alterations in the nature and content of collagen occurring in the myometrium of the human uterus during pregnancy and the post partum involutionary period.