Figure 5.

Effects of β-estradiol and progesterone on relative protein abundance of NBCn1, SLC26A4, and SLC26A6 in uteri of ovariectomized mice. (A) Representative western blottings of NBCn1, SLC26A4, and SLC26A6. The ovariectomized mice were injected with sesame oil (control), β-estradiol (E2), or progesterone (P4). Each lane represents the uterus from a single mouse. Equal amount (10 μg) of membrane proteins were loaded into each lane for western blotting. Full-length blots for the images in A are shown in Supplementary Figures S4A–C. Equal loading was verified by Coomassie staining (see Supplementary Figures S4D). (B–D) Summary showing the effects of E2 and P4 on relative abundance of uterine NBCn1 (B), SLC26A4 (C), and SLC26A6 (D). The bar graphs were created by using a strategy similar to that in Figure 3. Briefly, raw densitometric density was obtained for the target band in each lane on a specific blot by ImageJ. The raw densitometric densities were then divided by the average density of all “control” lanes on the same blot to create a normalized value, representing the relative protein abundance of the transporter in the membrane preparation. Such normalized values from different blots were pooled to generate the bars in B–D. The data were presented as mean ± SEM. The figures in the parenthesis of each bar indicate the number of mice included in each group. One-way ANOVA followed by Fisher's post-hoc multiple comparisons was performed for statistical analysis. ^*p < 0.05; ^**p < 0.01; ^***p < 0.001.