Figure 3

Whole-mount in situ hybridization of miRNAs in in vivo, in vitro and NT expanded blastocysts. MiRNAs are stained red and blue represents nuclear stain by DAPI. About half of the blastocyst comprising approximately middle region of the inner cell mass and corresponding trophectoderm has been visualized in the upper image (a) in each group as obtained by scanning the blastocyst at every 2 μm interval using laser scanning confocal microscope and projected in three dimensions (3D). Similarly lower image (b) for every group of embryos represents a 3D transverse region of upper and same blastocyst to visualize inner cell mass and trophectoderm clearly. Scale bar represents 50 μm and ‘i’ indicates the region of inner cell mass.