Fig. 4From: RA-RAR signaling promotes mouse vaginal opening through increasing β-catenin expression and vaginal epithelial cell apoptosisThe effect of Rarα deletion on vaginal epithelial cell apoptosis and Ctnnb1 mRNA levels. (A) The levels of serum estradiol (E2) in WT and Rarα−/− females at 30 dpp. (n = 3 independent experiments). Data are presented as mean ± SEM. ***P < 0.001 vs. the WT group. (B, C, D) The mRNA levels of Raldh2, Raldh3 (B), Bak, Bax and Bcl-2 (C) and the protein levels of Cleaved Caspase-3 (D) in the vaginas of Rarα−/− females with vaginal closure and WT females (non-estrus stage). The mRNA values of WT group were set as 1, and those of Rarα−/− group were normalized accordingly. GAPDH was used as a loading control. (n = 3 independent experiments). Data are presented as mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 vs. the WT group. (E, F) Immunofluorescence stain of TUNEL and Cleaved Caspase-3 (green) (E), and the percentage of vaginal epithelial cells with TUNEL- and Cleaved Caspase-3-positive signals (green) (F) in each section in the vaginas of Rarα−/− females with vaginal closure and WT females (non-estrus stage). The nuclei were counterstained by DAPI (blue). Yellow arrows, apoptotic cells. Scale bar, 100 μm. (n = 3 independent experiments. The representative images are shown). Data are presented as mean ± SEM. ***P < 0.001 vs. the WT group. (G) The mRNA levels of Adamts18, Bac3, Bid, Bim, Ctnnb1, Epha1, Gpc3, Lhfpl2, Map3k1, Pax8 and Sema4d in the vaginas of Rarα−/− females with vaginal closure and WT females. The mRNA values of WT group were set as 1, and those of Rarα−/− group were normalized accordingly. (n = 3 independent experiments). Data are presented as mean ± SEM. ***P < 0.001 vs. the WT groupBack to article page