Changes in the vagina often occur with hormonal changes in the female. For instance, a decrease in bodily estrogen levels is frequently associated with atrophic vaginitis, a condition characterized by vaginal dryness and irritation. Such a reduction in estrogen occurs after menopause, when the ovaries halt production of the hormone, and may also be associated with removal of the ovaries, pelvic x-rays, or breast-feeding. Symptoms of atrophic vaginitis, which may include painful urination, vaginal discharge, itching, or burning in addition to dryness and irritation, generally are persistent without hormone therapy or other treatment.

In order to localize a red fluorescent tag to filamentous actin in the sample of rat vagina tissue presented in the digital image above, the specimen was labeled with Alexa Fluor 568 conjugated to a phalloidin. Oregon Green 488 conjugated to the lectin wheat germ agglutinin, which selectively binds to N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylneuraminic residues, was also applied to the tissue sample, as was the nuclear counterstain Hoechst 33342. Images were recorded in grayscale with a 12-bit digital camera coupled to a Nikon Eclipse 80i microscope equipped with bandpass emission fluorescence filter optical blocks. During the processing stage, individual image channels were pseudocolored with RGB values corresponding to each of the fluorophore emission spectral profiles.