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. 2007 Sep 20;117(10):2993–3006. doi: 10.1172/JCI30674

Figure 3. Defective decidualization in Sphk1–/–Sphk2+/– uteri.

Figure 3

(A–K) H&E staining of longitudinal sections from wild-type and Sphk1–/–Sphk2+/– uteri on day 5.5 pc (A and B), day 6.5 pc (C–F), and day 7.5 pc (G–K). (A, C, G, and H) Wild-type uteri. (B, D–F, and I–K) Sphk1–/–Sphk2+/– uteri. Arrows in D, F, and I–K indicate hemorrhage, and arrowheads in E and K indicate neutrophil infiltration in the decidua of Sphk1–/–Sphk2+/– uteri. (L) Immunostaining with anti-neutrophil antibody on day 7.5 pc Sphk1–/–Sphk2+/– uteri. Arrowheads indicate positive neutrophils. De, decidua; Em, embryo; He, hemorrhage; Np, neutrophil; Ne; necrotic embryo. (M and N) In situ hybridization for Sphk1 in wild-type uteri using antisense (M) or sense (N) probes. Arrows in M indicate Sphk1 expression. Scale bars: 100 μm (A–D, G–J, and L); 50 μm (E, F, and K); and 1 mm (M and N). In all experiments, more than 3 animals were examined. (O) Artificial decidualization. Wild-type or Sphk1–/–Sphk2+/– mice were given intraluminal oil infusion on day 3.5 pc of pseudopregnancy. On day 7.5 pc, the uteri were weighed. Fold increases denote comparison of weights between infused and noninfused uterine horns. The numbers above the bars indicate the number of responding mice/total number of mice. Results are expressed as mean ± SE. *P < 0.01, unpaired Student’s t test.