Figure 4

Statin treatment induces both somatic cell and germ cell apoptosis. E9.5 tissue was treated with statins, fixed and stained for apoptotic cells (cleaved PARP+). (A) The % of apoptotic PGCs (PARP+. GFP+) per slice was calculated. (B) The amount of somatic cell apoptosis was compared by summing the pixel intensity of the PARP staining and normalizing to an arbitrarily chosen control slice (value set to 1). (C) Apoptosis in a control slice (D) a slice treated with 0.2 μM simvastatin (E) a slice treated with 1 μM atorvastatin and (F) a slice treated with 12 μM mevinolin. In all panels "n" = number of slices, error bars are s.e.m. and " * " = groups that differed from controls (F < 0.05 Analysis of Variance from Walpole and Meyer with Fishers least significance post test). Scale bar is 100 μm.