Fig. 2

PTX3 is more secreted by male ECs in comparison with female ECs. The levels of PTX3 were measured by an immune-enzymatic assay on conditioned media collected from male ECs (M-ECs, blue dots) or female ECs (F-ECs, deep red dots) after an overnight incubation in a serum-free media, **p < 0.01, n = 3; b 2% FBS-containing media, *p < 0.05, n = 5; and c 20% FBS-containing media, n = 6. N is the number of independent experiments, and lines and error bars show the mean ± s.e.m. of these experiments. Individual dots are the mean of duplicate samples from each experiment. In d, the PTX3 levels shown in b (2% FBS, open dots) and c (20% FBS, closed dots) were summarized and analyzed by a 2-way ANOVA followed by Sidak’s multiple comparison test, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01; n = 5–6 for 2% and 20% FBS, respectively. Interaction between sexes is significant, **p < 0.01. e PTX3 mRNA was measured by RT-qPCR and normalized to the housekeeping gene GAPDH in M-ECs (blue bar) and F-ECs (deep red bar) collected after an overnight incubation in 20% or 2% FBS as indicated. No significant differences between the groups; 2-way ANOVA followed by Sidak’s multiple comparison test, n = 4