Figure 6.

High androgen reduces cilia beating frequency. (A and B) Tubal cilia were imaged using a spinning disc Nikon Ti2 microscope which showed that high androgen exposure significantly reduced cilia beating. In the left panel of ‘A’, the yellow line indicates a section of moving cilia selected for quantification. The blue arrow in the right hand panel shows the distance between two waveforms. Experiments shown in ‘B’ include four unique subjects. The graphs are represented as mean ± SEM. (C) Schematic representing the androgen signaling pathway with ovarian over-production of androgen in PCOS patients and the stimulation of receptors on the hFTE. Activation of the receptor caused translocation to the nucleus to inhibit transcription of cilia genes, FOXJ1 (as well as LRRC6 and KIF5C) that are critical for proper cilia assembly and movement.***P < 0.001.