Figure 5
Histological examination in the uterine fibroids and myometrium. (a) Immunofluorescent staining for collagen fibers in the MED12m-positive, -negative uterine fibroids, and myometrium. Collagen fibers are detected as blue by a trichrome staining kit (TRM-1, ScyTec Laboratories inc). (b) Boxplots show the occupation rate of collagen fiber. The collagen fiber area was quantified by Image J. The percentage per view field was calculated on 15 randomly chosen areas at × 200 magnification, and average percentages were indicated in each tissue section. *p < 0.05. (c). Immunofluorescent staining for smooth muscle cells (αSMA, green) and vascular endothelial cells (CD31, red) in the MED12m-positive, -negative uterine fibroids, and myometrium. (d). Boxplots show the number of blood vessels, which was counted by Image J. The number per view field was calculated on 5 randomly chosen areas at × 100 magnification, and the average numbers were indicated in each tissue section. *p < 0.05. (e) Immunofluorescent staining for smooth muscle cells (αSMA, red) and nucleus (DAPI, blue) in the MED12m-positive, -negative uterine fibroids, and myometrium. The cells stained with αSMA were considered as smooth muscle cells, whereas the cells that were not stained with αSMA was considered as non-smooth muscle cells. (f) Boxplots show the percentage of the smooth muscle cells in the smooth and non-smooth muscle cells. The number per view field was calculated on 5 randomly chosen areas at × 200 magnification, and the average numbers were indicated in each tissue section. *p < 0.05.
