Figure 3.

FSH-induced ERK phosphorylation in wild type (WT) FSHR, chimeric EL2M FSHR, and the point mutants L⁵⁰¹F and I⁵⁰⁵V (31). (A) Representative western blot showing the levels of phospho ERK (P-ERK) and total ERK2 in cell lysates from HEK293 cells transiently expressing the FSHR constructs and stimulated without or with 100 ng FSH for 5 or 30 min. Untransfected cells served as a negative control. (B) Densitometric analysis showing the ratio of phosphorylated ERK: total ERK2. The maximum response obtained by WT FSHR at 5 min post stimulation with 100 ng FSH was considered to be 100% and the % response obtained for the mutants at 0, 5, and 30 min post FSH induction (100 ng) was determined by comparing it with the maximum response and plotted. The value of *P < 0.05 and ***P < 0.001 with respect to WT FSHR was considered to be statistically significant.