Figure 5

Ctnnb1^flox/floxcontrol and Amhr2^Cre/+;Ctnnb1^d/dmutant uteri responsd similarly to steroid treatments in terms of epithelial and stromal cell proliferation. Representative images of whole uteri (A) or histological sections (B) from control or mutant female mice treated with vehicle (veh or v) or estradiol (E₂, 100 ng, 24 h). (C) Based on immunohistochemical detection of the mitosis marker phospho-histone H3, no difference was observed in the percentage of epithelial mitotic cells between control and mutant mice exposed to vehicle or E₂. When employing the BrdU labeling method, no statistical difference was observed in proliferation in control (D, G) and mutant (E, H) luminal epithelia in response to E₂ (D-F; 50 ng, 24 h) or stromal cells in response to steroid hormones given in a regimen consistent with early pregnancy [G-I; two days of E₂ (100 ng s.c. in 100 μl sesame oil), two days no treatment, three days P₄ (1 mg s.c. in 100 μl sesame oil) and one day E₂ + P₄]). Data represent the mean ± SEM from n = 3-8 independent experiments where * denotes p < 0.05.