Figure 5.

(A): The mRNA expression levels of the four ER isoforms in the liver, head kidney (HK), immune cells isolated from head kidney or from blood during the reproductive cycle. The reproductive cycle was subdivided into four stages: stage A = start of reproductive cycle, stage B = vitellogenic stage, stage C = spawning stage, stage D = post-spawning stage (see Figure 4). The gene copy number of each isoform gene per 1 µL cDNA is presented by Box-Whisker plots (group A: n = 4, B: n = 5, C: n = 3, D: n = 4). Note logarithmic scale of y-axis. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01. (B): The mRNA expression levels of the four ER isoforms in the ovaries during the reproductive cycle.