Oral administration of methylergometrine shows a late and unpredictable effect on the non-pregnant human menstruating uterus

A N de Groot, A.N.J.A. de Groot, P.W.J. van Dongen, P W van Dongen, T B Vree, Tom B. Vree, Tom K.A.B. Eskes, T K Eskes
European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology · 1995 · vol. 60(2) , pp. 101–107 · doi:10.1016/0028-2243(95)02100-7 · PMID:7641959 · W2118498381
Other OA: green CC0
📄 Open PDF View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by qwen3.7-flash, 2026-10-12 ⓘ

Oral methylergometrine exhibits late and unpredictable effects on uterine motility in menstruating women due to variable bioavailability, contrasting with the fast, predictable response observed after intravenous administration.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To study the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of oral and intravenous methylergometrine upon uterine motility during menstruation. STUDY-DESIGN: Intra-uterine pressure was measured in six volunteers with a fluid-filled sponge-tipped catheter during menstruation. Methylergometrine was given orally (0.5 mg) or intravenously (0.2 mg) in a cross-over design. RESULTS: After intravenous administration, a fast increase of the frequency of uterine contractions and basal tone occurred with a decrease of amplitude, lasting at least 30 min. Oral administration had a late and less marked effect on uterine motility. An intravenous dose administered 24 h after an oral dose had no effect on uterine motility. Pharmacokinetic data, such as the maximum plasma concentration (Cmax), the time at which Cmax is reached (tmax) and the half-life of absorption (t1/2abs) also demonstrated large individual variations after oral administration. CONCLUSIONS: Oral administration of methylergometrine had an unpredictable and late effect on uterine motility on the menstruating uterus, probably due to an unpredictable bioavailability, in contrast with the fast and predictable effect after intravenous administration.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

MeSH descriptors

Menstruation Methylergonovine Uterus Administration, Oral Adult Female Half-Life Humans Injections, Intravenous Kinetics Methylergonovine Methylergonovine Methylergonovine Methylergonovine Pressure Uterine Contraction Uterine Contraction Uterus Uterus

Citation neighborhood (no data yet)

We don't have any in-corpus citations linked to this paper yet. The paper's references may be in our DB but unresolved to ``paper_id`` (resolution happens at ingest when the cited DOI matches a row we already have). Run the cross-source citation reconcile pass to retry.

References (20)

Source provenance

openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T21:58:54.395363+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK