Fig. 5

Relative expression of inflammatory markers in the uterus. Six to eight weeks old diestrus virgin BALB/C mice were treated by transcervical infusion with (1) PBS, (2) mMSC, (3) E. coli, or (4) E. coli followed by mMSC six hours thereafter. Normal, non-treated diestrus mice were used as controls. Mice were sacrificed 24 h after challenge and total RNA was extracted from uterine horns. Using RT-qPCR the relative expression of Ly6G (neutrophil marker), ICAM1, TNFɑ, iNOS, MIP2, KC, IL6, IL1β and IL10 genes was quantified relative to RNA samples extracted from the uterus of normal age-matched, diestrus control mouse. Each data point within box plots represents a single uterine horn and data demonstrates recruitment of neutrophils (Ly6G) and increased expression of inflammatory markers in the uterus. Each experimental group was compared to the normal control group or between groups and statistical significance was determined by non-parametric Mann–Whitney two-independent-samples test using GraphPad Prism 6 (GraphPad Software, Inc.) and P value of 0.05 or less was considered significant. Non-significant; (ns); P > 0.05, *P ≤ 0.05; **P ≤ 0.01, ***P ≤ 0.001, ****P ≤ 0.0001