Fig. 5

Spermatogenic defects in Defb19 KO mice. a Representative hematoxylin (nuclei, blue) and eosin (cytoplasm, red) staining images of paraffin-embedded testis showing the cell composition and cell morphology at indicated stage of seminiferous tubules of WT and KO mice (n = 6 mice). Scale bar = 20 μm. b Representative immunofluorescence staining images showing the expression of claudin 11 (CLDN11, green) in the testis of WT and KO mice. DAPI (blue) marks cell nuclei. Scale bar = 10 μm. c Representative images of TUNEL assays showing the apoptotic cells in the WT and KO testes. Corresponding quantitation s shown on the right panel (n = 4 mice). TUNEL (red) marks the apoptotic cell and DAPI (blue) marks cell nuclei. Arrowhead indicates the TUNEL + cells. Scale bar = 50 μm. d Representative specific staining images of paraffin-embedded testis showing the RBs at indicated stages of the testis from indicated groups (n = 4 mice). The cytoplasm is pink. The RB is blue (arrowheads). Scale bar = 10 μm. e Representative PNA-lectin staining images of paraffin-embedded testis showing the acrosome of developing spermatid from indicated groups (n = 6 mice), PNA (green) marks the acrosome of spermatid and DAPI (blue) marks cell nuclei. Scale bar = 20 μm. Data are presented as means ± SD, analysed by Student’s t test. ** p < 0.01