Figure 2.

Expression of p38α MAPK and detection of apoptosis in wild-type and p38α mutant placentas. (a and b) Immunohistochemical detection of p38α in placenta and maternal decidua. Note the strong staining in the wild-type diploid trophoblast (arrows) in the wild type (a), but not the mutant (b); in contrast, staining in the maternal decidual cells is unaffected (arrowheads). (c–f) TUNEL analysis of wild-type and p38α mutant placentas shows nearly complete lack of apoptotic cells in the diploid trophoblast of the wild-type placenta (c and e), but abundant labeled cells in the mutant trophoblast (d and f). (Scale bars represent 100 μm.)