Fig. 5. ADM rescues the decrease in steroidogenic enzymes and testosterone production in LPS-exposed Leydig cells.

Semi-quantitative real-time PCR was performed to detect the gene expression of StAR and P450scc (a) and 3β-HSD and CYP17 (d) normalised by the control group. Western blot was used to evaluate the protein level of StAR and P450scc (b) and 3β-HSD and CYP17 (e). β-actin was used as internal control. Histogram displaying the densitometric analysis results of StAR and P450scc (c) and 3β-HSD and CYP17 (f) normalised by the control group. g Histogram displaying the testosterone concentration normalised by the control group. The normalised levels of gene expression are expressed as ratios of the copy number of mRNA and that of β-actin cDNA. Data were obtained from five independent experiments and expressed as mean ± SD. *P < 0.01 and ^#P < 0.05, compared with the corresponding control or treatment group