Fig. 2.

Laminin expression in human ovaries. The expression of the 12 laminin genes was analyzed by qPCR in human ovarian cortex (n = 6) and commercially available pooled whole ovary RNA sample from 15 women (n = 1) (a), and in mural (n = 10) and cumulus (n = 10) granulosa cells isolated from ovarian follicular fluid (b). The results were normalized to house-keeping gene RLPL0 and HPRT1 and are shown as average relative expression (+ SEM). The same commercial reference “whole ovary” sample was included in every run. Main laminin chains expressed were LAMA2, LAMB2, and LAMC1 in ovarian tissue. Follicular fluid granulosa cells expressed LAMA1, LAMA3, LAMB2, and LAMC1. The expression was further studied on protein level by immunostaining of ovarian cortical tissue sections (c) and mural and cumulus granulosa cells isolated from ovarian follicular fluid (d). DAPI was used as nuclear counter stain, and IgG as negative control. Tissue from 6 patients was used in stainings and representative images are shown. In pre-antral follicles, LAMA2, LAMA3, LAMB1, LAMB2, and LAMC1 showed robust staining, whereas LAMA1, LAMA2, LAMB1, and LAMC1 dominated in walls of small antral follicles. In isolated granulosa cells, LAMA1, LAMA2, and LAMA3 showed positive staining in addition to LAMB2 and LAMC1