Figure 7: PCSK inhibition in the COC is mediated via a GDF9-based mechanism.

A) Violin plots of proteins related to TGF-β signaling that are altered with PCI treatment. Data are represented as mean ± SEM. q-values for violin plots as follows: * < 0.05, ** < 0.01, *** < 0.001, **** < 0.0001 by t-test with Storey’s method. n=4 biological replicates, where each replicate has 150 COCs per treatment group. B) Sequence of pro-GDF9. Red letters highlight the predicted PCSK cleavage site. The down arrowhead indicates where cleavage would occur. C) Schematic showing methodology for GDF9 rescue experiment. D) Brightfield images of COCs cultured for 16h in the EmbryoScope+^™ in the presence or absence of PCI and GDF9, followed by transfer to a new culture dish. E) Representative high magnification images of D. F) Graph showing cumulus cell (CC) area of CTL and PCI-treated COCs with or without GDF9 supplementation following culture and transfer. **** p < 0.0001 by one-way ANOVA. G) Schematic summarizing key findings of study.