Fig. 5.

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