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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Apr 1.
Published in final edited form as: Differentiation. 2015 Nov 21;91(4-5):20–27. doi: 10.1016/j.diff.2015.10.006

Fig. 1.

Fig. 1

Mesenchymal specification of uterine and vaginal epithelial differentiation. To determine which tissue (mesenchyme or epithelium) specifies uterine and vaginal epithelial differentiation, four tissue recombinants were prepared with neonatal tissues (≤ 5 days postpartum) as indicated and grown under the renal capsule for 1 month in female hosts. Homotypic tissue recombinants (UtM + UtE and VgM + VgE) gave the expected differentiation with maintenance of epithelial prospective fate. Heterotypic tissue recombinants (VgM + UtE and UtM + VgE) demonstrated that mesenchyme specifies epithelial cytodifferentiation. Subsequent studies have shown that mesenchyme-altered epithelial cytodifferentiation is associated with expected molecular markers of uterine and vaginal epithelial differentiation (Kurita, 2011). (Figure drawn by Takeshi Kurita and used with permission).