Figure 2. In human fetal gonads, exposure to MEHP significantly increases the mRNA expression of LXRα downstream genes involved in the cholesterol and lipid pathways.
Ovaries and testes from 7 to 12 week/old human fetuses were cultured with or without 10−4 M MEHP for three days. mRNAs were isolated from whole gonads and the transcriptional level of LXRα downstream genes was analyzed by real-time qPCR in testes (A) and ovaries (B). Results were normalized to Actin β expression and are shown as fold changes relative to control values. Histograms represent the mean ± SEM of 4 to 8 different ovaries/testes from different fetuses (as indicated in the respective column). *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 in paired t-tests recommended when comparing few samples.