Fig. 1: VEGF and Tie1 levels increase significantly in cultured granulosa cells from OHSS patients.

a VEGF level in follicular fluid specimens from control (control-FF, n = 8), mild-OHSS (mild-OHSS-FF, n = 21), and moderate-OHSS patients (moderate-OHSS-FF, n = 2), as quantified by ELISA. b, c VEGF levels in cultured granulosa cells from control and OHSS patients, as determined by RT-qPCR (b) and western blotting (c). d, e VEGF levels in granulosa cells cultured in the absence or presence of 10 IU/mL hCG for the indicated periods of time, as determined by RT-qPCR (d) and western blotting (e). f VEGF levels in granulosa cells cultured in the presence of 0–20 IU/mL hCG for 24 h, as determined by western blotting. g, h Tie1 levels in cultured granulosa cells from control and OHSS patients, as determined by RT-qPCR (g) and western blotting (h). i, j Tie1 levels in granulosa cells cultured in the absence or presence of 10 IU/mL hCG for the indicated periods of time, as determined by RT-qPCR (i) and western blotting (j). k Tie1 levels in granulosa cells cultured in the presence of 0–20 IU/mL hCG for 24 h, as determined by western blotting. β-Actin served as the internal control. The optical density units of each target protein were normalized to β-actin and expressed as fold-change. The data from three independent experiments are expressed as arbitrary units using the mean ± SEM. ^*P < 0.05, ^**P < 0.01, ^***P < 0.001.