Research Paper Volume 11, Issue 12 pp 4032—4049
Long-time qingyan formula extract treatment exerts estrogenic activities on reproductive tissues without side effects in ovariectomized rats and via active ER to ERE-independent gene regulation
Figure 4. The effects of QYFE treatment on the expression of estrogen receptor (ER) α and estrogen receptor (ER) β in the uterus, vagina and mammary gland. (A) ERα and ERβ expression was assessed by quantitative immunohistochemistry. Representative photomicrographs taken at 200-X magnification of uterus and 400-X magnification of vagina and mammary gland sections from each treatment group are shown: (I) Untreated ovariectomized (OVX) rat; (II) sham-operated rat; (III) OVX rat treated with estradiol valerate (EV); and OVX rat treated with (IV) 0.7 g/kg, (V) 1.4 g/kg, and (VI) 2.8 g/kg QYFE. Data are the mean standard deviation (SD) of samples from 10 rats. *** p< 0.001, compared with the sham-operated group; ###p < 0.001, ##p < 0.01, and #p < 0.05, compared with the OVX group. (B) Comparative Statistical analysis of ERα and ERβ upregulation to OVX group (▲) p< 0.05, compared with ERα protein relative increase of QEFE to untreated OVX.