Fig. 6

Changes in apoptosis and apoptosis-related factors in the ovaries of Paqr7^−/− female mice. (A) Apoptosis was assessed by TUNEL assay in the ovaries of Paqr7^+/+ (n = 3) and Paqr7^−/− (n = 3) female mice. 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI, blue) was used to stain the nuclei. Scale bars represent 25 μm. (B)The number of apoptotic cells per section in Paqr7^+/+ (n = 3) and Paqr7^−/− (n = 3) female mouse ovaries. (C) The mRNA levels of Bcl2, Bax and Caspase-3 were examined in the ovaries of Paqr7^+/+ (n = 3) and Paqr7^−/− female mice (n = 3) by real-time quantitative PCR. (D) A sample of Western blot analysis measuring the protein levels of Bcl2, Bax, and Cleaved-Caspase-3. (E-H) Statistical analyses of the protein levels of Bcl2 (E), Bax (F), Cleaved-Caspase-3 (G), and Bax/Bcl2 ratio (H) in the ovaries of Paqr7^+/+ (n = 3) and Paqr7^−/− female mice (n = 3) were conducted by quantifying the gray value of target bands normalized to that detected by anti-GAPDH antibody (loading control) using Image J software. Values are presented as the mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 compared with the Paqr7^+/+ female mice by the student t-test