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. 2021 Aug 11;116(6):1631–1640. doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2021.08.009

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Levels of mRNA for angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in granulosa cells (GCs) and cumulus cells of periovulatory follicles. (A) Dominant follicles were retrieved from the ovaries of women undergoing laparoscopic tubal sterilization before the luteinizing hormone surge or at various times after recombinant human chorionic gonadotropin administration and divided into four phases: preovulatory (Pre, n = 6), early ovulatory (EO, n = 5), late ovulatory (LO, n = 6), and postovulatory (PO, n = 2). The levels of mRNA for ACE2 were measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) in granulosa cells isolated from a dominant follicle collected at Pre, EO, and LO and whole follicles retrieved at PO and normalized to the levels of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) mRNA in each sample. The levels are presented as fold change to Pre values. Bars with no common superscripts are significantly different (P<.05). (B) Cumulus cells and granulosa cells were collected at the time of oocyte retrieval from women undergoing a standardized in vitro fertilization procedure. a) The levels of mRNA for ACE2 were measured by qPCR and normalized to the levels of RNA, 18S Ribosomal 5 (RNA18S5) in each sample (n = 5 independent samples). ∗P<.05. b) A representative Western blot image detecting ACE2 protein. The samples loaded were from indicated independent patients. ACTB detection in each lane was used as a protein loading control.