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. 2017 Jan 23;13(1):e1006147. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006147

Fig 8. Morphological analyses show corresponding effects of QLT-0276 and RNAi in the ovary of female worms.

Fig 8

CLSM analyses of paired females ((A) DMSO-treated female as control) under the influence of the inhibitor QLT-0276 (treatment for 3 days (B-D) or 14 days (E, F)) or ILK ds-RNA (25 μg, 4 days (G, H)) with a focus on the ovary. The ovary is a bulb-like structure with a smaller anterior part containing immature oogonia (iO) and a bigger posterior part containing mature primary oocytes (mO). As shown before [14, 15] the structure of the ovary and the integrity of oocytes were not negatively influenced by DMSO ((A) 3-day treatment). However, following treatment with 50 μM (B), 100 μM (C) or 200 μM (D) QLT-0276, mO appeared within the anterior part of the ovary (B, C) and iO in its posterior part (C, stars). Additionally, signs of oocyte degradation were observed in both parts of the ovary (arrows). After 14 days of in vitro culture the structure of the ovary of DMSO-treated females was unchanged (E) whereas ovaries of females treated with 10 μM QLT-0276 showed the deleterious phenotype (F) described above. In contrast to a control using GFP-dsRNA (G), in ILK dsRNA-treated paired females, the number of mO was smaller, they also appeared within the anterior part of the ovary (H), and iO in its posterior part, and signs of degeneration were observed, too (H). Scale bars are 75 μm (A, B, D), 50 μm (C, E), 45 μm (H) or 25 μm (E, F).