Figure 6

Representative photomicrographs of apoptotic cells (TUNEL) and ERbeta-immunoreactive cells (ERbeta IHC) in AVPV of 150 day-old male Long-Evans rats. All the photomicrographs (coronal brain sections) are from animals fed an isoflavone-rich diet (Phyto-600) from conception until time tissue collected. ERbeta-immunoreactive cells were visualized with diaminobenzadine (DAB) and seen as brown nuclear staining. Sections were counterstained with hematoxylin (blue). A, C and E are representative photomicrographs of TUNEL staining in AVPV (n = 5). B, D and F are ERbeta immunohistochemistry stained sections within AVPV, which are 6 μm apart from A, C and E, respectively. Except a few apoptotic cells (stars in C and E) missing in ERbeta IHC sections, all other apoptotic cells (arrows in TUNEL) were ERbeta-immunoreactive (arrows in ERbeta). Bar = 25 μm for all the photomicrographs.