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. 2013 Apr 25;8(4):e62919. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062919

Figure 2. Effect of cholesterol disrupting agents on mouse fertilization.

Figure 2

Zona-free mouse oocytes were incubated with either different concentrations of MβCD for 30 min at 37°C to remove cellular cholesterol or 200 µg/ml of Nystatin to sequestrate cholesterol into complexes. Cholesterol repletion was carried out incubating MβCD-treated oocytes with MβCD/Chol complexes. After depletion/repletion and sequestration treatments, oocytes were washed and inseminated. (A) Effect of cholesterol depletion and repletion on the fertilization rateand (B) fertilization index. (C) Effect of Nystatin induced cholesterol sequestration on the fertilization index. Data in A and B represent the mean ± SEM of at least 3 independent experiments from a total of 101 control oocytes, 49 oocytes depleted at 5 mM, 92 oocytes depleted at 15 mM and 52 oocytes depleted/repleted at 15 mM of MβCD. Data in C represent the mean ± SEM of 3 independent experiments from a total of 33 control oocytes and 72 Nystatin-treated oocytes. Comparison of mean values was performed using LSD or Student’s t tests. Different letters (a-c) denote significant differences (P<0.05).