Fig. 3.
The effect of recombinant hPTN on VPs grown in vitro. P0 VPs were cultured in the presence or absence of testosterone (10−8 M) and/or hPTN (3 µg/ml). Panel A: Whole-mount images of male VP organ cultures after 6 days; addition of hPTN led to small effects upon organ size and morphology. Scale bar represents 1 mm. Panel B: Graph showing the mean two-dimensional area of VPs relative to −T, ±SEM. Addition of hPTN led to a modest reduction in the size of organs grown in the presence of T, but not in organs grown in the absence of T. Panel C: Graph showing the mean number of epithelial bud tips around the periphery of cultured VPs, expressed as a ratio of organ perimeter (mean number of buds per 1,000 pixels perimeter ±SEM). Addition of hPTN led to a statistically significant (Student's t-test, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001) increase in the number of epithelial bud tips/unit perimeter in VPs grown ±T.