FIGURE 1.
Immunohistochemical and Western blot analyses of TGF-β1 and TGF-βR1 in prenatal and neonatal mouse ovaries. Germ cells with cyst structure in 18.5-dpc mouse ovaries exhibited positive staining for TGF-β1 and TGF-βR1 in contrast to somatic cells, which exhibited negative staining (A and D, rings). Both TGF-β1 and TGF-βR1 were expressed in the oocytes of primordial and primary follicles in 1-dpp (B and E, arrows) and 4-dpp (C and F, arrows) mouse ovaries and were beginning to express in the cuboidal granulosa cells (C and F, arrowheads) of primary follicles. Western blot analysis of the expression patterns of TGF-β1 and TGF-βR1 in the mouse ovary from 17.5 to 7 dpp normalized to β-actin (G). Rings indicate germ cell cysts, arrows indicate primordial follicles, and arrowheads indicate cuboidal granulosa cells. Scale bars: 40 μm (A–F). Bars with different letters are significantly different (p < 0.05).