Fig. 3.

qPCR based RNA quality determination (mean ± SD). Three different treatment groups, n = 4, (SF-snap frozen, HS-heat stabilized, HS + 12h-heat stabilized with 12 h incubation at room temperature after heat stabilization), extracted with two different protocols (Q-QiaZol buffer and U + Q-Urea pre-solubilization prior to QiaZol extraction) were compared. Difference in Cq, ΔCq, between long and short amplification frames, as measured for three different RNA targets indicate mRNA quality. **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 compared with snap frozen samples (SF) within respective extraction protocol, ^#p < 0.05, compared to corresponding group in non-urea pre-solubilized samples (ANOVA followed by Tukey HSD test; n = 4).