Fig. 5

Effect of fetal sex on microRNA levels in maternal serum in uncomplicated and FGR pregnancies. qPCR was performed on individual microRNAs isolated from maternal serum of women with appropriately grown (AGA; IBC 20–80th) or growth-restricted (FGR; IBC < 5th) infants using specific primers for A miR-28-5p, B miR-29c-3p, C miR-301a-3p, D miR-378a-3p, E miR-409-3p, F miR-454-3p and G miR-526b-5p. Data were normalised to 2 reference miRNAs and expressed as 2^−ΔCt. Data were stratified into male (n = 15/group) and female (n = 16/group). Individual data points shown, line represents the median. 2-way ANOVA with linear step-up multiple comparison test. Interaction (F) between the groups was considered significant when p < 0.05. Kruskal–Wallis followed by Dunn’s post hoc analysis was used to determine difference between individual groups; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01