Fig. 7. Comparison of levels of cholesterol synthesized in oocytes and/or cumulus cells under various experimental conditions. (A) Comparison of levels of cholesterol synthesized in WT cumulus-cell-enclosed oocytes (CEOs) and denuded oocytes (DOs). The left panel is a representative TLC image showing levels of [¹⁴C]cholesterol (indicated by arrow) production in CEO and DOs. The right panel is the quantitative comparison of [¹⁴C]cholesterol levels in CEOs and DOs. (B) Comparison of levels of cholesterol synthesized in oocytes of WT, DM cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs), and DM COCs that were co-cultured with WT fully grown oocytes (FGOs). The left panel is a representative TLC image showing levels of [¹⁴C]cholesterol (indicated by arrow) produced by oocytes in each group. The right panel is the quantitative comparison of [¹⁴C]cholesterol levels in oocytes of each group. (C) Comparison of levels of cholesterol synthesized in cumulus cells of WT, DM COCs, and DM COCs that were co-cultured with WT FGOs. The left panel is a representative TLC image showing levels of [¹⁴C]cholesterol (indicated by arrow) produced by cumulus in each group. The right panel is the quantitative comparison of [¹⁴C]cholesterol levels produced by cumulus cells in each group. All experiments were repeated four times. Data are presented as mean of the relative fold change in [¹⁴C]cholesterol levels (levels in controls, i.e., CEO in A, WT in B and C,=1) ± s.e.m. Bars indicated with different letters are significantly different (P<0.05) using ANOVA and Tukey's HSD test. The asterisk indicates significant difference by Student's t-test (P<0.05).