Fig 2. GC induce exfoliation of polarized epithelial cells requires the activation of Ca²⁺ flux and Non-muscle Myosin II (NMII) by Myosin Light Chain Kinase (MLCK).

Polarized T84 cells (A and B) and human endocervical tissue explants (C and D) were untreated or pre-treated with the ROCK inhibitor Y27632 (Y, 10 μM) or the MLCK inhibitors ML-7 (M, 10 μM) or PIK (100 μM) for 1 h and apically incubated with piliated MS11Opa+ or ΔOpa for 6 h or 24 h in the presence or absence of inhibitors. Cells were fixed, stained for DNA and GC, and analyzed using 3D-CFM. Shown are representative images (Scale bar, 10 μm) (A and C). The average percentages (±SD) of exfoliated cells were determined as Fig 1 from >15 randomly selected fields (>50 cells) of three independent experiments or cervixes of two to three human subjects. ***p ≤0.001; **p ≤ 0.01; *p≤0.05.