Fig. 3

The number of atretic follicles increases from postnatal week 6 in the Amh-cre; Foxj2^tg/tg mice. A Micrographs of H&E-stained ovarian sections from control mice and Amh-cre; Foxj2^tg/tg mice (Cre tgtg) at postnatal day 1 (PD1). Scale bar: 50 μm–20 μm. B Comparison of the number of primordial follicles in mice at PD1. Data are presented as the mean ± SEM (n = 4). C, E, G, I Micrographs of H&E-stained ovarian sections from control and Cre tgtg mice at postnatal weeks 3 to 4 w (3–4 w) (C), 6 w (E), 8 w (G), and 12 to16 w (12–16 w) (I). Scale bar: 100 μm–50 μm. Black pentagrams indicate the atretic follicles. D, F, H, J Comparison of the number of primordial follicles, primary follicles, secondary follicles, antral follicles, atretic follicles, and health follicles between control and Cre tgtg mice at 3–4 w (n = 3) (D), 6 w (n = 3) (F), 8 w (n = 4) (H), 12–16 w (n = 6) (J). Data are presented as the mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05. **P < 0.01. ***P < 0.001. The red, yellow, blue and green arrows indicate primordial follicles, primary follicles, secondary follicles and antral follicles, respectively. The black pentagonal stars represent atretic follicles. Health follicles are defined as the sum of primordial, primary, secondary, and antral follicles