Treatment of mouse vaginal mucosa with ciclopirox.

A, B: Histology of vaginal mucosa of medroxyprogesterone-synchronized mice, untreated (A) or intravaginally treated (B) for four consecutive days with the antifungal gynecological formulation of CPX (1% Batrafen Vaginalcrème™, equivalent to 28.8 mM CPX). A1 and B1, stained with hematoxylin-eosin; A2 and B2, stained with anti-active caspase-3. Due to the progestin synchronization of all animals, the vaginal mucosa of untreated (A) and treated (B) animals displays a luminal surface of living cuboidal mucinous cells, overlying uncornified strata of living squamous epithelial cells. C, D: Tissue reactivity to anti-active caspase-3 for two organs known to contain cells undergoing apoptosis, human neonatal thymus (C) [216] and mouse ovary (D1-D3) [217]. Active caspase-3 locates to the nuclei of cortical lymphocytes and folliculogenic cells, respectively, consistent with its established nuclear occurrence [115], and generates a characteristic, punctate staining pattern. Batrafen-treated vaginal mucosa does not display this apoptotic pattern (B2), showing instead the faint cytoplasmic reactivity of untreated controls (A2). The images of B2, evidencing absence of apoptotic cells after vaginal Batrafen exposure, and of D1-D3, evidencing presence of physiologically apoptotic cells in the ovary, were taken from the same longitudinal cut that sections an animal’s entire reproductive tract.