Figure 4.

Impact of RHOA inhibition on E4.5 fully expanded mouse blastocysts. (A) Bright-field images of blastocysts that were treated with no inhibitor (Control) or with RHO inhibitor I (RHOi) for 8 h, starting at E4.5. (B) Z-projection confocal images of nucleus, YAP, and POU domain class 5 transcription factor 1 (POU5F1; as an ICM marker) in representative control (n = 15) and RHOi-treated (n = 23) blastocysts. Scale bars in (A) and (B) are 100 μm and 50 μm, respectively. (C) Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of blastocysts before (0 h) and after 8 h of control and RHOi treatment. Asterisks indicate significant differences (P < 0.05; two-sample t-test) in the relative expression levels between control and RHOi-treated blastocysts. Error bars represent SD.