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Fig. 3 | Particle and Fibre Toxicology

Fig. 3

From: Exposure to environmentally relevant concentrations of ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) depletes the ovarian follicle reserve and causes sex-dependent cardiovascular changes in apolipoprotein E null mice

Fig. 3

Effects of PM2.5 exposure on apoptosis in ovarian follicles. Female mice were exposed to concentrated ambient PM2.5 or filtered air as described for Fig. 1 and ovaries were processed for TUNEL or immunostaining for activated caspase 3 as detailed in Methods. The graphs show the means ± SEM percentage of TUNEL- (A) or activated caspase 3- B positive secondary and antral follicles. A Representative photomicrographs taken with 20 × objective show TUNEL-positive antral follicles with brown stained nuclei in granulosa cells, as well as TUNEL-negative secondary (S) and antral (An) follicles in air control and PM2.5 ovaries. PM2.5 exposure significantly increased the percentage of antral follicles with TUNEL-positive granulosa cells. B Representative photomicrographs taken with 20 × objective show activated caspase 3-positive antral follicles with brown stained nuclei in granulosa cells (At), as well as caspase 3-negative secondary (S) and antral (An) follicles in air control ovaries. PM2.5 exposure significantly increased the percentage of antral follicles with activated caspase 3-positive granulosa cells. *P < 0.05 compared to air controls. N = 6–7/group. Scale bars, 50 μm

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Particle and Fibre Toxicology

ISSN: 1743-8977

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