Figure 3.

Glucocorticoid signalling in hearts of control fetuses is downregulated by dexamethasone at E15.5. Dexamethasone (100 µg/kg/day, stippled bars) or vehicle (Veh, white bars) was administered to pregnant dams in their drinking water from E12.5 to E15.5. qRT-PCR measurements at E15.5 of cardiac levels of (A) Nr3c1 mRNA, (B) Fkpb5 mRNA, (C) Kcnj12 mRNA, all relative to the mean of Actb, Hprt and Tbp mRNA levels, and at E17.5 of (D) Nr3c1 mRNA, (E) Fkbp5 mRNA and (F) Kcnj12 mRNA, all relative to the mean of 18s, Hprt and Tbp mRNA levels. Data, in arbitrary units (A.U.), are means ± s.e.m. and were analysed by two-way ANOVA with post hoc Tukey tests (^###P < 0.001, ^##P < 0.01, ^#P < 0.05 vs vehicle-treated control mice), n = 7–17 fetuses from six litters per group.