Figure 1
Experimental design: Testicular samples (n = 3 bulls) and female reproductive tracts (n = 6 cows) were collected from a local abattoir. The female reproductive tracts were identified either at follicular or luteal phase (n = 3 per phase), ipsilateral to the dominant follicle (follicular phase) or to the corpus luteum (luteal phase). Samples of endometrium were collected from both horns, medulla and cortex samples from the ovaries, and ampulla and isthmus segments from the oviducts. All the samples were submitted to nanoindentation as native tissues, porosity analysis (n = 3 technical replicate per tissue), characterization (including nuclei staining and DNA levels, n = 1 sample per organ), and decellularization process. The same native samples analyzed in the nanoindenter were submitted to decellularization and analyzed again in the nanoindenter as decellularized tissue. After decellularization, samples were submitted to porosity analysis (n = 3 technical replicate per tissue) and characterization (including nuclei staining and DNA levels, n = 1 sample per organ) to validate the decellularization process (Suppl. Fig. 1).
