Figure 3.

Localization of MiTF in uterine tissues of pregnant women. Nuclear immunostaining of MiTF in cervical stromal cells in tissues obtained in early gestation (A) and term pregnancy before cervical ripening (B). Intensity of staining was decreased in tissues obtained from women in labor, and protein was redistributed from the nucleus to the cytoplasm (C). Specimens from women not-in-labor and in-labor were mounted on the same slide for staining. In myometrium before labor, nuclear immunostaining was noted in myocytes and stromal cells dispersed between the myocyte bundles (D). Nuclear staining was maintained in the myocytes but decreased substantially in the intervening stromal cells of the myometrium in labor (E). Staining was absent in tissues incubated with McCoy’s medium substituted for monoclonal antibody (negative control; data not shown). Str, Stroma; epi, epithelium; myo, myocytes; EG, early gestation. Bar, 20 μm.