Effects of estrogen and progesterone on vaginal epithelial cells

The vaginal epithelium is responsive to the sex hormones estrogen and progesterone, and displays predictable changes in cell populations over the course of the reproductive cycle as a result of changes in the plasma concentrations of these hormones.

Answer the following question to test your understanding of the effects of estrogen and progesterone on vaginal epithelial cells….

Q. A vaginal smear prepared from a female rat that had been pre-treated with estrogen would show a predominance of which of the following cell types: 

Q. A vaginal smear prepared from a female rat that had been pre-treated with progesterone would show a predominance of which of the following cell types:

Uterus Dissection

When dissecting the uterus, which of the following were correct?

The rat was to be weighed before dissecting the uterus.

Vaginal Smears

When preparing the vaginal smears, what was to be used to label the glass slides?

How

many slides were each group to stain and examine?

What

type of vaginal epithelial cells would be present in the smear if the rat had been exposed to a significant amount of progesterone?

What was to be used to collect the vaginal smear?