Fig. 5

Analysis of pre-implantation embryo development in vitro and of time to plug after natural mating. A, B, C After superovulation, females were mated, sacrificed at E1.5 and embryos collected from both ampullae were counted and classified. Two-cell embryos were cultured in vitro for 72 h to reach the blastocyst stage as seen in the representative micrographs in A (Scale bars = 100 μm). In B and C values per ampulla are expressed as means ± SD. Significance is calculated with t-test vs CTR (letters) and vs CH (asterisks) as described in "Methods". Sample size: n = 3 and n ≥ 10 for light (L) and heavy (H) chemotherapeutic treatment, respectively. D, E Days of natural mating required to achieve a vaginal plug. Mean values for the whole period analysed are shown on the left panels, while the trend of the mean values over time is shown on the right panels. Values are expressed as means ± SD. Significance is calculated with One and Two-way ANOVA, respectively, vs CTR (letters) and vs CH (asterisks) as described in "Methods". Sample size: n = 3 and n ≥ 7 for light (L) and heavy (H) chemotherapeutic treatment, respectively