Fig. 4.

Differential effects of steroids on CRH correspond with their effects on production and/or nuclear translocation of NF-κB2/RelB in cytotrophoblasts. A, Whole-cell lysates of term cytotrophoblasts that were pretreated with vehicle (−) or DEX 1 μm or progesterone (Prog) 10 μm for 24 h were probed with CRH (upper left panel), RelB (lower left panel), or NF-κB2 (right panel) antibodies. β-Actin was used as a loading control. B, Nuclear (top panels) and cytosolic extracts (bottom panels) from the same whole-cell lysates of A were prepared and probed with RelB (left panel) or NF-κB2 (right panel) antibodies. SP1 was used as a loading control for nuclear extracts and β-actin was used as a loading control for both nuclear and cytosolic extracts. These gels are representatives of three repeated experiments performed on three separate placentas. SP, Specificity protein 1.