MEHP exposure affects the expression of nuclear receptors in human fetal testes and ovaries.

<p>Testes and ovaries from 7 to 12 week-old human fetuses were cultured with or without 10⁻⁴ M MEHP for 3 days and then mRNAs were isolated from whole gonad. (A), NRs superfamily TLDA plates were run with whole testis samples. Results were normalized to <i>actin β</i> or <i>HMBS</i> expression and the 3 differentially expressed NRs are shown as fold changes relative to the control values. Histograms represent the mean ± standard error of the results using 4 independent fetal testis cultures. (B), Transcriptional level of <i>PPARγ</i>, <i>LXRα</i> and <i>NR4A1</i> was analyzed by real-time qPCR in fetal ovaries. Results were normalized to <i>Actin β</i> expression and are shown as fold changes relative to control values. Histograms represent the mean ± SEM of 4 different ovaries from different fetuses (as indicated in the respective column). *p<0.05, **p<0.01 in paired t-tests recommended when comparing few samples.