Fig. 2

Representative images of differential cell staining in blastocysts collected at day 8 post-fertilization. Embryos either received 0 or 100 ng/ml IL6 beginning at day 5 post-fertilization. Panel A: Blastocysts were harvested at day 8, fixed, immunostained, and physically flattened between a slide and coverslip. Photographs represent a single plane of focus. Nuclei representing TE are indicated by CDX2⁺/DAPI⁺ staining (green) and the ICM nuclei are CDX2⁻/DAPI⁺ (blue). Control embryo number 1 had 42 ICM cells and 94 TE cells, while control embryo number 2 had 53 ICM cells and 120 TE cells. IL6-treated embryo number 1 had 86 ICM cells and 99 TE cells, while IL6-treated embryo number 2 had 76 ICM cells and 143 TE cells