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Figure 2 | Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology

Figure 2

From: In vitroeffects of relaxin on gene expression in porcine cumulus-oocyte complexes and developing embryos

Figure 2

Effect of porcine relaxin (pRLN) and follicular fluid (pFF) on pro- (Bax) and anti-(Bcl2-like 1) apoptotic genes expression in oocytes and cumulus cells. Total RNA were extracted from groups of 30 oocytes and corresponding cumulus cells before and after in vitro maturation in the presence of 0 or 40 ng pRLN/ml, or 10% (v/v) pFF. Gene expression was assessed using real-time PCR (A) followed by agarose gel electrophoresis of resulted PCR products (B). Analyses were performed in three independent replicates and data were expressed as relative to their corresponding internal control, β-actin. The figure represents the ratio (mean ± SD) of individually normalized Bcl2-like1/Bax gene expression. At all stages, oocytes contained significantly higher values than cumulus cells (a,b; P < 0.05, ANOVA), and pRLN had no effects on Bcl2-like1/Bax ratios (MII-40 and MCC-40), while pFF significantly increased this ratio in oocytes compared to other groups (*; P < 0.05, ANOVA). Immature cumulus cells and oocytes are indicated by ICC and GV, respectively. Cumulus-oocyte complexes matured in absence of pRLN are indicated by MCC and MII, corresponding to mature cumulus cells and oocytes. Cumulus cells and oocytes matured in the presence of pRLN are indicated by MCC-40 and MII-40, respectively.

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