Figure 5.

Effects of functional HIF1alpha suppression on protein expression of STAR, HAS2, PCNA, and activated-CASP-3 in cumulus cells. Cumulus cells were collected from COCs matured in vitro in the absence (IVM/control) or presence of echinomycin (5 nM) (IVM/E). Cells were denuded, collected, and homogenized; 25–30 μg of total protein were used for Western blot analysis. Representative Western blots are shown. Student t-test, unpaired, two-tailed, was applied; the average standardized optical density is shown (mean ± SEM) for: (A) STAR 30 kDa, (B) HAS2, 64 kDa, (C) PCNA 29 kDa, and (D) activated-CASP3, 17kDa. B-ACTIN was used as loading control (45 kDa). For STAR expression, mouse granulosa KK1 cells were used [42]. Solid lines placed over bars indicate a statistically significant difference between groups.