Production of 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid in early pregnant uterine cervix--lack of correlation to mifepristone-induced cervical ripening. A double-blind randomized biomechanical and biochemical study.

The regulation of cervical ripening in pregnancy may involve arachidonic acid metabolites. We studied the formation of lipoxygenase products in cervical biopsies from twenty nulliparous women requesting a first trimester abortion. The patients were randomly allocated to receive either 100 mg of the progesterone antagonist mifepristone (RU 486) or placebo 48 and 36 hours before surgery. A capacity to produce significant amounts of 12-HETE and material co-chromatographing with leukotrienes was observed in the cervical tissue. No qualitative or quantitative relationship to mifepristone-induced cervical ripening was found. Although our data suggest a large variation of 12-HETE production it remains to clarify its role in the cervix.