Fig. 10.
Effect of prolonged stretch and sex hormones on uterine MMPs protein amount. Uterine strips from virgin rats were stretched under control (2 g) or high (8 g) basal tension for 18 h and concomitantly treated with E2, P4, or E2+P4, in the absence (−) or presence (+) of MMP-2/MMP-9 inhibitor IV (SB-3CT, 10−6 M), and the uterine tissue homogenate was prepared for Western blot analysis. MMPs were detected using antibodies to MMP-2 (1:500; A), MMP-9 (1:500; B), and MMP-7 (1:500; C). Representative MMP-2 and MMP-7 blots on the right side have the same actin because the membrane was reacted first with MMP-2 antibody, stripped, reacted with MMP-7 antibody, and then stripped and reacted with anti-actin antibody. The intensity of the immunoreactive bands was analyzed using optical densitometry and normalized to the housekeeping protein actin. Data represent means ± SE, n = 4 to 6. *Significantly different (P < 0.05) from corresponding measurement in uterine strips under control basal tension.