Toll-Like Receptors and Cytokines as Surrogate Biomarkers for Evaluating Vaginal Immune Response following Microbicide Administration
Figure 4
Immunohistochemical localization of IL-4 in the CVE after intravaginal application of nisin (15.15 mM in 2 mL of 1% polycarbophil gel) (b), SDS (56 M in 2 mL of 1% polycarbophil gel) (c) and 2 mL of 1% polycarbophil gel (a) for 14 consecutive days. To rule out the nonspecific binding, sections were incubated in preimmune sera instead of primary antibody and considered as negative control (d). Semi-quantitative comparison by measuring integrated optical density (IOD) of immunoreactive IL-4 in treated and placebo is shown (e). The IOD in each area was calculated for the brown color immunoprecipitates. Each IOD value measured is the mean SD of six observations obtained from three independent samples. (Mag X 20) (EC = epithelial cells, SE = Squamous epithelium, LP = lamina propria), ( value is statistically significant at ).
