Figure 4

Quantification of sFlt-1 in endothelial cell culture supernatant. Neither heat inactivation of culture medium containing FCS (C2) nor absence of FCS (C3) has a measurable effect on sFlt-1 production of endothelial cells compared to incubation with untreated control medium containing FCS (C1). The significant inhibitory effect of untreated human follicular fluid (FF) on sFlt-1 production is maintained after ultra filtration leaving only molecules smaller than 1000 Dalton. This inhibition is not prevented neither by heat inactivation nor by charcoal treatment of the follicular fluid-flow through. All follicular fluids have been added to the culture medium at a concentration of 30%. * = p < 0.05