Figure 4

Effects of different hormonal treatments on hepatic CD36 mRNA expression in male rats. mRNA expression of CD36 exon 1a-3 (A), exon 1b-3 (B) and exon 3–4 (C) was quantified by real-time PCR in livers from males, females, males treated with continuous infusion of GH (GHc), males treated with injections of estradiol, old males or old males treated with twice daily injections of GH (GHi). Exon-specific primers were used to measure the mRNA abundance of specific regions of the transcript, which were normalized to RPLP0 mRNA level. Data are presented in relation to the expression level of the same transcript in male rats. The obtained data were analyzed using Student's T-test and bars represent the mean ± S.E. Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences versus male (*) whereas circles (¤) indicate significant effects of GHi in old males (p < 0.05).