Figure 1

Immunohistochemistry for proteins of the insulin-signaling pathway. Representative image from immunohistochemical detection of insulin receptor, IRS-1, Akt, AS160 and GLUT4 in paraffin wax sections of proliferative endometria obtained from CE women (n = 7) (left panel), women with PCOS without (PCOSE-NI, n = 7) (middle panel) and with hyperinsulinemia (PCOSE-HI, n = 7) (right panel). The hematoxylin/eosin staining showed comparable architecture in the three analyzed groups (A, B, C). Positive staining was detected in epithelial and stromal cells of all studied endometria for all antigens. A similar positive staining for insulin receptor was observed in all groups (D, E, F). (G, H, I) Immunostaining for IRS-1, which is less intense in the PCOSE-HI group (I). For Akt-1 (J, K, L), the immunostaining was more intense in the epithelia of PCOSE-HI compared with CE. The three analyzed groups showed positive staining for AS160 in a comparable manner (M, N, O). GLUT4 (P, Q, R) was immunodetected in all groups with less staining intensity in PCOSE-NI and PCOSE-HI compared with CE. Magnification 400× in all panels. Inserts show negative controls for all immunohistochemical assays. Scale bars represent 50 µm.