Fig. 3

Etomoxir treatment impairs spermatogonia homing and increases germ cell apoptosis. a Strategies for the use of pharmacological CPT1 receptor blockers (etomoxir). b Images of sections of mouse testis stained using the H&E method at postnatal day 7. Bar=10 μm. c Confocal images of mice testes at postnatal day 7. The PLZF (+) cells of the control group (left) are localized to the substrate membrane (white arrow), while the PLZF (+) cells of the etomoxir-treated group (right) are dispersed in the lumen (white arrow). Bar = 20 μm. d Quantification of tubules with spermatogenesis (**p < 0.01). e Fluorescence TUNEL assay of the testes of the control and etomoxir-treated groups at P7. The apoptosis rate was calculated as the percentage of TUNEL-positive tubes. (d and e are based on tests of three embryos (samples) from each of the control and experimental groups. **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001; ns, no significance; two-tailed unpaired Student’s t-test)