Figure 2 .

Effect of HN on heat-induced male germ cell apoptosis in wild-type and il-27rα or ebi-3 knockout mice. Both wild-type and il-27rα or ebi-3 knockout mice were treated with vehicle (Control), Humanin peptide (HN), heat (Heat), and heat plus HN peptide (Heat + HN) as described in experimental procedures. Male germ cell apoptosis was detected by TUNEL staining and expressed as the number of TUNEL positive germ cells per Sertoli cell. HN prevented heat-induced male germ cell apoptosis in wild-type mice (A and B, left panel, P < 0.05), whereas in il-27rα knockout animals, HN did not significantly prevent heat-induced male germ cell apoptosis (A, right panel, P > 0.05). In ebi-3 knockout animal, HN also did not prevent heat-induced male germ cell apoptosis (B, right panel, P > 0.05).