Figure 2

Validating the use of the Amhr2^Cretransgenic mouse for studying gene function during uterine stromal cell decidualization. Amhr2^Cre transgenic mice were crossed with double floxed yellow fluorescent protein (Cre/EYFP) transgenic mice. (A) At sexual maturity female offspring were bred and implantation sites were observed grossly under fluorescent lighting on day of pregnancy 6 (DOP6, upper right and lower left panels) or day of pseudopregnancy 6 (DOPP6, lower right panel). (B) Direct fluorescent microscopy was used to assess frozen histological sections on postnatal day 13 (pnd13), DOP7 and DOPP7. Note that EYFP was present only in the stroma (ST) and myometrium (MYO) on pnd13 and DOP7 and absent in the luminal (LE) and glandular (GE) epithelia (pnd13). Likewise, EYFP was not detected in certain cells at the mesometrial pole that are presumably natural killer and endothelial cells (white arrows). EYFP was expressed at both the antimesometrial (anti) and mesometrial (meso) poles on DOP7. No EYFP was observed in EYFP^flox/flox single transgenic mice (EYFP) that lack cre recombinase expression (B, lower panels). All images taken at 400X magnification. DS, decidualized stroma; EM, embryo.