Figure 3.

Changes of OXT levels in the blood and pituitary of Caps2 KO mice. A, Plasma OXT concentrations as calculated using ELISA. WT (N = 10 mice): 475.99 ± 32.42 pg/ml), Caps2 KO (N = 13 mice): 360.92 ± 28.08 pg/ml, p = 0.025, Student's t test. B, Hypothalamic PVN OXT concentrations as calculated using ELISA. WT (N = 6 mice): 115.0 ± 11.70 ng/ml, Caps2 KO (N = 6 mice): 191.41 ± 15.66 ng/ml, p = 0.0029, Student's t test. C, Representative images of posterior pituitary sections immunostained for OXT (green) in WT (left) and Caps2 KO (right) mice. Scale bars: 100 µm (20×), 20 µm (100×). D, Mean intensity of immunofluorescence for posterior pituitary OXT. WT (N = 13 mice): 1347.99 ± 70.04 a.u., Caps2 KO (N = 10 mice): 1623.60 ± 59.44 a.u., p = 0.0095, Student's t test. A total of 6–9 pituitary sections were analyzed for each mouse tested. E, Number of OXT puncta of immunofluorescence for the posterior pituitary. WT (N = 13 mice): 85.96 ± 12.01, Caps2 KO (N = 10 mice): 161.79 ± 20.54. p = 0.0034, Student's t test. A total of 6–9 pituitary sections were analyzed for each mouse tested. F, OXT puncta area of immunofluorescence for the posterior pituitary. WT (N = 13 mice): 508.11 ± 78.15 μm², Caps2 KO (N = 10 mice): 1025.24 ± 146.09 μm², p = 0.0038, Student's t test. A total of 6–9 pituitary sections were analyzed for each mouse tested. G, OXT puncta size of immunofluorescence for the posterior pituitary. WT (N = 13 mice): 5.61 ± 0.16, Caps2 KO (N = 10 mice): 5.85 ± 0.13, p = 0.28, Student's t test. A total of 6–9 pituitary sections were analyzed for each mouse tested. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.