Figure 6.

Progesterone (P4) maintains its anti-inflammatory role throughout labour. Myometrial tissue obtained from women in term (A) early labour and (B) established labour was finely dissected into 3 × 3 × 3 mm³ explants after a portion was immediately snap frozen (t = 0). Explants were immediately pre-treated for 6 h with ethanol vehicle or 1 µM P4 followed by a 24 h treatment with IL-1β (10 ng/ml). Protein was extracted and quantified. Western blotting for cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) was performed as described in Methods. Representative western blots are shown above each densitometric analysis plot. The data are expressed as mean + SEM. Normality was tested using a Shapiro–Wilk test. A Wilcoxon signed rank test was used for non-normally distributed data and a paired t test for normally distributed data. **P < 0.01 versus control; ***P < 0.001 versus control; ^#P < 0.05 versus IL-1β. n = 8.