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Fig. 4 | Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology

Fig. 4

From: RA-RAR signaling promotes mouse vaginal opening through increasing β-catenin expression and vaginal epithelial cell apoptosis

Fig. 4

The 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 group

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