Figure 3.

AhR depletion alters OCT4 cellular distribution through embryogenesis

(A) Immunofluorescence analysis of OCT4 at the indicated embryonic stages. Whole embryos were stained using a specific antibody. Hoechst was used to stain cell nuclei. Scale bar, 20 μm.

(B and C) Oct4 mRNA expression was quantified by qRT-PCR using mRNA purified from TE and ICM fractions separated by MACS using the specific primers indicated in Table S1. mRNA expression was normalized by β-actin and is represented as 2^−ΔΔCt..

(D) Immunofluorescence analysis of OCT4 (green) and AHR (red) in embryos at the blastocyst stage. Scale bar, 10 μm.

^∗∗p < 0.01. Data are shown as mean ± SD. Confocal microscopy was used for detection. The experiments were performed at least three times, and number of embryos analyzed is indicated on the x axis.