Fig. 12

Stem cells proliferation in the uterus. Stem cells were better visualized in smears compared to sections and were successfully enriched by spinning at 3000 rpm (for further details refer to M&M; Fig. 11). These stem cells expressed both PCNA (upper panel) and FSHR (lower panel). This figure is a composite prepared by pasting together several fields. Two distinct stem cells populations based on size were clearly visualized including smaller VSELs (red arrow) and slightly bigger progenitors (black arrow). VSELs are relatively quiescent and undergo self-renewal (green broken circle) and asymmetric cell division (red broken circle) to give rise to the bigger progenitors which undergo symmetric cell divisions (blue broken circle) and clonal expansion (asterix). However, these stem cells in the smears are from what specific region of the uterus is not clear at present since whole uterus was subjected to enzymatic digestion. Similar results have been earlier reported for testis and ovary [37, 41]. Scale bar 20 μm