Fig. 3.
Effects of E2 on growth of blastocyst cells. (A) Proliferation of blastocyst cells following 24-h exposure to different concentrations of E2, determined by cell counting using a differential staining method. The sample size shown in each group (control:37; 10−7 M:38; 10−6 M:32; 10−5 M:31; 10−4 M:38 respectively). (B) Blastocyst cell outgrowth in vitro following a 24-h exposure to different concentrations of E2 and culturing for 3days. Total number of nuclei in outgrowths was assessed after staining with a 4% Giemsa solution. The sample size shown in each group (control:32; 10−7 M:34; 10−6 M:30; 10−5 M:32; 10−4 M:31 respectively). Data were recruited from four experiments and analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), ∗∗p < 0.01 vs. control.