Toll-Like Receptors and Cytokines as Surrogate Biomarkers for Evaluating Vaginal Immune Response following Microbicide Administration
Figure 5
Immunohistochemical localization of IL-6 in the cervicovaginal tissue 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 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). Semiquantitative comparison by measuring integrated optical density (IOD) of immunoreactive IL-6 is shown (e). The IOD in each area was then measured for the brown color immunoprecipitates. Each value is the mean SD of six observations obtained from three independent samples. The figure shown is representative pictures from three independent rabbits (Mag X 20). (EC = epithelial cells, SE = squamous epithelium, LP = lamina propria) ( value are statistically significant at ).
