Figure 2

Effect of SET knockdown on testosterone synthesis in theca cells. (A) Infection of follicular theca cells with recombinant adenoviruses. Follicles were infected with recombinant adenovirus AdSiRNA-SET or AdSiRNA-NS and cultured for 24 h. The majority of theca cells were infected as judged by the expression of GFP under a fluorescence microscope. Left: light microscope; right: fluorescence microscope (Scale bar = 50 μm). (B) Western blot analysis of SET protein expression in follicles infected with recombinant adenovirus for 48 h. The levels of SET protein in follicles infected with AdSiRNA-SET were decreased about 43% compared with follicles infected with AdSiRNA-NS. (C) Effect of SET knockdown on theca cell testosterone synthesis. Compared with the follicles infected with AdSiRNA-NS, the amount of testosterone in the culture media of the AdSiRNA-SET infection group was significantly degraded. Results are presented as Mean ± SD from at least 3 independent experiments. Sample sizes were 20 follicles per treatment, per experiment. *, p < 0.05 compare with AdSiRNA-NS infected group.