Figure 6.
Deletion of ERα in POMC neurons leads to fertility phenotypes. (A–B) Plasma estradiol-17β (A) and progesterone (B) at diestrus in 6-month old female mice fed with HFD (n=6 or 8/genotype). (C–D) Relative mRNA levels of FSHβ (C) or LHβ (D) in the pituitary measured 4 weeks after receiving ovriectomy plus estradiol-17β replacement (0.5 µg/day/mouse, OVX+E) or plus vehicle (OVX+V) (n=6/group). (E–F) Plasma FSH (E) or LH (F) measured in mice described in (C–D). (G) Length of diestrus, proestrus and estrus relative to the entire etrus cycles (n=8 or 17/genotype). (H) Percentage of mice that successfully delivered pups (n=8 or 20/genotype). (I) Averaged time period between mating day and birth day of pups (n=8 or 6/genotype). (J) Averaged litter size (n=8 or 6/genotype). Note: Only mice that successfully delivered pups in (H) were included in the analyses in (I and J). (K) Relative mRNA levels in the hypothalamus from 16-week old chow-fed females (n=6/genotype). Data are presented as mean ± SEM, and *P<0.05, **P<0.01, and ***P<0.001 between ERαlox/lox/POMC-Cre mice and ERαlox/lox mice.