Expression of a number of genes involved in cholesterol transport and steroidogenesis, as determined by real-time quantitative PCR.

<p><i>18 S</i> transcript levels were used as a reference, and relative transcript levels were calculated as a fold-change relative to control. The names of the genes investigated are cytochrome P450, family 17, subfamily A, polypepetide 1 (<i>Cyp17a1</i>), cytochrome P450, family 11, subfamily A, polypepetide 1 (<i>Cyp11a1</i>), 3 beta- and steroid delta-isomerase 1 (<i>Hsd3b1</i>), Steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (<i>Star</i>). Data are presented as means ± SEM for various cDNAs synthesized from the mRNA of 6 to 12 testes from the fetuses of 2 litters in 3 or 4 independent experiments. The number indicates the percentage decrease relative to the control. <i>^* p<0.05</i> in <i>Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney tests comparing treated and control to testes; NS: not significant</i>.