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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: Differentiation. 2017 Aug 11;97:9–22. doi: 10.1016/j.diff.2017.08.002

Figure 20.

Figure 20

Sagittal sections of a 21-week female reproductive tract. Due to section orientation (A depicts the lower portion of the specimen (introitus to upper vagina), and (B) depicts the upper portion of the specimen (vagina, cervix and uterus) via H&E stain. The vaginal epithelium is many layers thick due to estrogenic stimulation (A–B). In (B) note the abrupt transition in epithelial differentiation at the vaginal/cervical border. PAX2 staining of the vaginal/cervical border (C) shows prominent PAX2 immunostaining of stratified but relatively thin cervical epithelium (indicative of Müllerian duct origin) and PAX2-negative vaginal epithelium (C). Epithelium of the uterine corpus (D) is strongly PAX2-reactive. FOXA1 immunostaining was seen uniformly throughout the entire vagina, and FOXA1 immunostaining abruptly stopped at the vaginal/cervical border (E–F) in mirror image to PAX2 immunostaining (C).