Research Paper Volume 9, Issue 6 pp 1552—1564

Melatonin prevents postovulatory oocyte aging and promotes subsequent embryonic development in the pig

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Figure 5. Effects of melatonin on early apoptosis in aged and melatonin treated oocytes by Annexin-V FITC detection assay. (A) Negative control. (B) Apoptosis positive. (C) Apoptosis positive percentage in fresh, aged and melatonin treated oocytes. (D) The expression of anti-apoptosis genes (BCL2, Sphk1 and BCL-xl) in fresh and aged oocytes. (E) The expression of pro-apoptosis genes (P53, Caspase-3, Bax and BAD) in fresh and aged oocytes. All graphs show mean ± s.e.m. Independent replicates were conducted with a minimum of 25 oocytes/replicate, at least 3 stable replicates were obtained. **P <0.01. Bar = 25μm.