Fig. 4. Effects of natriuretic peptide receptor 2 (NPR2) knockdown on cells apoptosis in mouse Leydig cells. (A) Relative mRNA expression of cell apoptosis related genes (Bcl-2, Bax, p53, and Caspase-3) in mouse Leydig cells transducted with shRNA-NPR2 lentivirus. (B) The phosphorylation of AKT in mouse Leydig cells transducted with shRNA-NPR2 lentivirus. (C) Caspase-3 activity in mouse Leydig cells transducted with shRNA-NPR2 lentivirus. (D) Relative protein expression of Bcl-2 and Bax in mouse Leydig cells transducted with shRNA-NPR2 lentivirus. The β-actin was used as internal control. The phosphorylation of AKT were normalized to that of total AKT. The results are presented as the mean±standard error of mean and are representative of three independent experiments. ^*p<0.05 and ^**p<0.01 compared with each corresponding group in the control.