Differential Regulation of Morphology and Estrogen Receptor-Alpha Expression in the Vagina of Ovariectomized Adult Virgin Rats by Estrogen Replacement: A Histological Study

Figure 2

ERα immunostaining of vaginal tissue sections. (a)–(f) show ERα immunostaining of vaginal tissue sections from sham, OVX, E1, E2, E3, and E4 groups, respectively. ERα-immunoreactive cells are indicated by small black arrows. The staining is primarily nuclear in the vaginal stratified squamous epithelium (basal, para-basal, and intermediate cell layers) and in the stromal fibroblasts or nonvascular smooth muscle cells in the lamina propria. Scale bar represents 50 μm (200x magnification). ERα, estrogen receptor-α.

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