FIG. 2.

Effects of progesterone on experimental C. albicans vaginal infections. Animals were treated with estrogen (Est; 0.2 mg/mouse) and/or progesterone (Pro; 1.0 mg/mouse) or sesame seed oil alone (none) subcutaneously 72 h prior to vaginal inoculation and weekly thereafter until completion of the study. At days 6, 13, and 20 postinoculation, five to six randomly selected animals per group were footpad challenged with CaCF, and DTH was measured 24 h later. Thereafter, mice were sacrificed and vaginal fungal burden was determined by quantitative vaginal lavage culture. (A) CFU ± standard errors of the means (SEM) from two experiments. (B) DTH (difference in thickness of footpad given Candida antigen versus footpad given PBS) ± SEM from estrogen-treated, progesterone-treated, or estrogen-plus-progesterone-treated mice.