Figure 2.

qPCR analysis of genes related to inhibin/activin production and function in preovulatory and hCG-treated WT (white bars) and Inha^−/− (black bars) granulosa cells. Preovulatory granulosa cells were collected 44–46 h after PMSG injection without (−) or with hCG for 6 h. qPCR results are expressed as RQ. hCG down-regulates Inhba (A) in WT preovulatory granulosa cells but not in hCG-treated Inha^−/− preovulatory granulosa cells. B, Levels of Inhbb are increased in Inha^−/− preovulatory granulosa cells compared with WT, and hCG treatment reduces those levels to that of preovulatory WT granulosa cells. C, Follistatin, an activin antagonist, is up-regulated in preovulatory Inha^−/− and declines to WT preovulatory levels after hCG treatment. D, Kitl is suppressed in preovulatory Inha^−/− granulosa cells compared with WT, and its levels are similar to hCG-treated WT cells. E, Ccnd2 is up-regulated in Inha^−/− preovulatory granulosa cells compared with WT, although it is down-regulated by hCG to levels comparable with preovulatory WT cells. F, Cyp19a1 is down-regulated in Inha^−/− preovulatory granulosa cells and shows an opposite regulation (i.e. shows an increase) to hCG than in WT cells (i.e. shows a decrease). Data are mean ± sem of a minimum of three independent samples with the control mean set to 1. Different letters above the bars indicate statistical significance at P < 0.05 by one-way ANOVA followed by Fisher LSD post hoc test.