Fig. 3: HDAC6 is responsible for primordial follicle activation by regulating mTOR signaling pathway.

A–C The mTOR signaling pathway in the ovaries was affected by either inhibiting or elevating the level of HDAC6. Western blotting results showed that both total-mTOR and p-mTOR were increased in the TubA group or Hdac6-KD group compared with those in the respective controls. On contrary, Hdac6-OE treatment decreased the levels of both total-mTOR and p-mTOR compared with the control. D, E The histological analysis and counting results showed that the primordial follicle activation was reversed in TubA plus Rap treatment compared with TubA treatment alone. The experiments were repeated at least three times. And representative images are shown. The data are presented as the means ± SEM. Scale bars: 50 μm.