Fig. 8: Lipophagy-mediated steroidogenesis is perturbed in patients with defective luteal function (LF).

A Representative confocal images of the luteinized granulosa cells of the patients with normal and defective luteal function treated with hCG (10 IU/ml) w/wo chloroquine (CQ, 60 μM). Perilipin3 (red signal) and LAMP2 (green signal). Quantification of the signal intensities and co-localizations of the signals are indicated to the right of the images. Nuclei stained with DAPI. Scale bars represent 20 μm. Mean ± SD, N = 10 biological replicates analyzed using one-way ANOVA, with Tukey’s test for multiple comparisons. B Time-lapse images of confocal live microscopy of the luteinized granulosa cells of the patients with normal and defective luteal function. BODIPY (green signal) and lysotracker (red signal). Quantification and co-localizations of the signals are indicated to the right of the image. Nuclei stained with DAPI. Scale bars represent 20 μm. Mean ± SD, N = 10 biological replicates analyzed using one-way ANOVA, with Tukey’s test for multiple comparisons. C Representative confocal images of the luteinized GCs of the patients with normal and defective luteal function (LF) 24 h after treatment with hCG (10 IU/ml) w/wo CQ (60 μM). Perilipin3 (yellow signal), LC3B (red signal) and LAMP2 (green signal). Quantification of the signal intensities and co-localizations of the signals are indicated to the right of the images. Nuclei stained with DAPI. Scale bars represent 20 μm. Mean ± SD, N = 10 biological replicates analyzed using one-way ANOVA, with Tukey’s test for multiple comparisons.