Fig. 2: Oocyte maturation and pre-antral follicle development stimulated by Ab4B19.

a–c Effect of Ab4B19 on cultured oocytes. Isolated oocytes from 6-8-week-old female mice were cultured with 0.2 nM BDNF, or 0.2, 0.6, and 1.8 nM Ab4B19 with or without K252a Normal mice of the same age were used as the control. GVBD of oocytes (a 868 oocytes were used in total) and first polar body extrusion (b 826 oocytes were used in total and c 652 oocytes were used in total) were measured. (N = 5 (a, b) or 4 (c) mice in each condition). d Effect of Ab4B19 on the number of corpora lutea in the ovary. Mice of 7-8-week-old were sacrificed and sectioned for H&E staining 3 days after administration of Ab4B19 (1 mg/kg) or normal IgG (1 mg/kg) through tail vein injection. Representative images (left) and quantification (right) of the corpora lutea were presented. Scale bars, 200 μm. The corpora lutea were indicated by asterisks. N = 6 mice. e Effect of Ab4B19 on the number of antral follicles in developing ovaries. The representative images of H&E staining were captured from the midline histological sections isolated from P15 ovaries 5 days after a single dose of Ab4B19 or normal IgG (1 mg/kg). The red arrows indicated the antral ovarian follicles. Scale bars, 200 μm. f Quantification of the effect of Ab4B19 on different types of ovarian follicles for the experiment of (e). The number of primordial, pre-antral, or antral follicles was counted and plotted (N = 5 mice). g Effect of Ab4B19 on the expression of AMH and FSHR. Protein samples from P20 mice administered with Ab4B19 or normal IgG (1 mg/kg) for 5 days were analyzed with Western blot and quantified (right) with β-actin used as a loading control (N = 4 mice in each condition). Experiments were repeated two to three times with similar results. Data were presented as mean ± SEM. Statistical analyses were carried out using one-way ANOVA followed by the Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test for (a–c), or two-tailed student’s t-test (d, f, g) respectively (*P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ****P < 0.0001; ns not significant). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.