Fig. 3.

Relative expression (fold change) of mRNA levels of three genes (Hspa1a, Mylk and Atp1a1) in mouse embryos of different stages. At each stage, we extracted RNA from 10 embryos. FG, fresh group (control); VG, vitrified group; SC–, without strong contractions within 20 h after blastocoel formation; SC+, strong contractions occurred within 20 h after blastocoel formation. Data are means ± SEM for 10 embryos per stage from three to five experiments. The relative mRNA expression of Hspa1a (A), Mylk (B) and Atp1a1 (C) was determined at the 8-cell stage, early blastocyst stage and 20 h after blastocoel formation. There was no significant difference between the FG and VG at any stage. There was also no significant difference between the VG (SC–) and VG (SC+) at any stage. P-values were determined with the paired Student’s t-test.