Fig. 4.

Effect of vaginal distention on FBLN5 protein expression in the vaginal wall of nonpregnant and pregnant animals. Immunoblots for fibulin-5 protein in nonpregnant (A) and pregnant (B) wild-type mice vaginal homogenates after sham operation and balloon distention (n = 6 in each group). Coomassie-stained gels are presented beneath the immunoblots. Fbln5^−/−, negative control. WT, wild-type positive controls that underwent neither sham nor balloon procedures. C: relative amounts of fibulin-5 in sham-operated and balloon-distended vaginal tissues from nonpregnant and pregnant animals (n = 6 in each group). *P < 0.05.