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. 2022 Jan 25;23(3):1365. doi: 10.3390/ijms23031365

Figure 3.

Figure 3

Relative expression of the genes involved in neurosteroid synthesis and metabolism vs. the reference phosphoglycerate kinase (Pgk1) gene in the hippocampus of rats exposed to AgNPs with different types of coating (citrate, bovine serum albumin (BSA), and polyethylene glycol (PEG)) or Ag+: PEG) or Ag+: (A)—steroidogenesis genes (Star (steroidogenic acute regulatory protein), Hsd3b3 (hydroxysteroid (3β) dehydrogenase 3), Hsd17b1 (hydroxysteroid (17β) dehydrogenase 1), Hsd17b10 (hydroxysteroid (17β) dehydrogenase 10)); (B)—steroid metabolism genes (Er1 (estrogen receptor 1), Er2 (estrogen receptor), Ar (androgen receptor)); (C)—glucocorticosteroid synthesis genes (Hsd11b2 (hydroxysteroid 11β-dehydrogenase 2), Cyp17a1 (cytochrome P450, family 17, subfamily a, polypeptide 1), Cyp21a1 (cytochrome P450, family 21, subfamily a, polypeptide 1)). Data are presented in arbitrary units as a ratio of the expression of the target gene to the expression of the reference gene (Pgk1) with the control group calculated as 1. All values are presented as mean ± SEM. *, **, *** Significantly different from the control group (* p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001) (Tukey post hoc test). ### Significant differences between the groups exposed to AgNPs or Ag+ (### p < 0.001) (Tukey post hoc test).