Fig. 1

Vim, pan CK, OPN and MMP-9 were identified in EECs with immunocytochemistry. a The isolated EECs display distinct cobblestone morphology and express pan CK instead of Vim. OPN and MMP-9 are located in the cytoplasm of EECs. OPN and MMP-9 expression levels are detected in NEECs and EEECs with real-time RT-PCR (b) and western blots (c). *, I/II EEECs vs. NEECs, p < 0.05; **, III/IV EEECs vs. NEECs, p < 0.01. Real-time RT-PCR (d) and western blots (e) show that OPN and MMP-9 expression is detected in NEECs and EEECs. *, proliferative phase EEECs vs. proliferative phase NEECs, p < 0.05; **, secretory phase III/IV EEECs vs. secretory phase NEECs, p < 0.01. p, proliferative phase; s, secretory phase. The histogram represents three independent assays. Data are presented as the mean ± S.E. The housekeeping gene beta actin was used to normalize the expression levels of OPN and MMP-9