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. 2015 Jun 5;10(6):e0128709. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0128709

Fig 3. Effect of NO released by testicular macrophages on germ cell (GC) apoptosis (TUNEL technique) and testosterone secretion (RIA).

Fig 3

A) Representative microphotographs of sections of testicular fragments (TF) from normal rats incubated with medium alone or testicular macrophages (TM) isolated from EAO rats in the presence of D-NAME (2mM) or L-NAME (2mM) for 18h; apoptotic GC are blue stained. Scale bar indicates 20μm B) % of seminiferous tubules (ST) with apoptotic GC, the % of ST with apoptotic cells in the TF immediately removed from the testis was 3.140±0.890. Data represent mean±SEM of (n = 30–40) non consecutive sections of TF obtained from four animals in four independent experiments. 300 ST were counted in each condition/rat. ***p<0.001 vs medium D-NAME; ΔΔΔp<0.001 vs D-NAME TM. Two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni Multiple Comparison Test. C) Testosterone content in the media. Data represent the mean±SEM (n = 5–7 wells/group from two experiments); ***p<0.001 vs medium D-NAME, ΔΔ p<0.01 vs D-NAME TM. Two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni Multiple Comparison Test. D) Nitrite production measured in the medium (fluorometric kit). Data represent mean±SEM (n = 5–7 wells/group from two experiments). *p<0.05 vs D-NAME TM. Student t Test.