Research Paper Volume 12, Issue 20 pp 20801—20816

E₂/GPR30 signal activation upregulates cumulus expansion-related genes in the presence of EGF. COCs were cultured in the medium with 1 ng/mL EGF, 10 ng/mL EGF, 17β-E₂, G1, G15 or ICI182780 for 8 h, and the cumulus expansion-related genes (HAS2, PTGS2, TNFAIP3 and PTX3) were detected using RT-qPCR. Data are represented as fold induction over unstimulated control. Bars are represented as average±SEM. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences between groups (p<0.05). Three independent replicates were performed for each experiment.