Fig. 3

Analysis of the concentrations of 34 cytokines in follicular fluid by the Luminex liquid chip suspension technology assay in women with a normal body mass index with or without PCOS. (A) Hierarchical clustering of partial cytokine concentrations in the two groups of patients. Each row represents a kind of cytokine, and each column represents one sample. Samples from each group (n = 16) were arranged from left to right. The T test was used for SDF-1α. The remaining studies used the Mann–Whitney test. *P < 0.05 PCOS versus Control. (B) Concentrations of MIP-1β and SDF-1α in follicular fluid from women with a normal body mass index with or without PCOS measured by the Luminex. Each data point represents a specimen of one patient; n = 16 per group, all bars indicate the mean ± standard error of the mean, SDF-1α difference analysis followed by Student’s t test, MIP-1β difference analysis followed by the Mann–Whitney test, *P < 0.05. (C) Concentrations of MIP-1β and SDF-1α in follicular fluid from 24 women with a normal body mass index with or without PCOS measured by ELISA. Each data point represents a specimen of one patient; n = 12 per group, all bars indicate the mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM), difference analysis followed by Student’s t test, *P < 0.05