Fig. 6.

Fertility of Defb15 knock-down male rats. a Relative expression levels of Defb15 including mRNA and protein in the caput region of the epididymis from all successfully mated rats after RNAi treatment. Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM (n  = 12–16; ***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01 vs. corresponding control). Csi, EGFP siRNA control; 15si1 and 15si2, two siRNAs specifically targeting the different sites of Defb15 sequence. b Numbers of normal fetuses (circles) and live offspring (triangles) from normal female rats mated with normal, control (Csi) and knock-down (15si1, 15si2) male rats; horizontal lines indicate the averages. c Examples of implantation in the control and Defb15 siRNA-treated groups. There are 17 and 11 normal embryos in the control (a) and treated (b) groups, respectively. Abnormal embryos (c, arrows) appeared in the uterus of a female rat mated with a Defb15 siRNA-treated male rat