Figure 4

Expression dynamics of Aard and Aard -AS. (A) In situ hybridization results (seminiferous tubules) for sense (Aard) and antisense (Aard-AS) transcripts. Arrow indicates the direction of spermatogenesis, as illustrated in (B). Scale bars: 100 μm. (C and D) Enlargement of the corresponding boxes in (A). Arrowheads denote the cytoplasmic signal of Aard and the nuclear signal of Aard-AS. (E) Microarray results of Aard and Aard-AS expression during the spermatogenesis. Black and white bars indicate normalized signal intensity levels of sense and AFAS probe, respectively. Arrow indicates the direction of spermatogenesis (Psp, pachytene spermatocytes; Rsp, round spermatids; Esp, elongated spermatids). Fractionation of germ cells on the basis of the three stages of spermatogenesis in the mouse testis was performed as previously described [53, 54].