Next, we investigated whether the observed altered Mecp2/MeCP2 expression was due to changes in the number of cells deriving from male and female embryos. Detection of Sry and Il3 by PCR indicated that the ratio of Sry/Il3 was relatively similar in D2 control and decitabine-treated populations (Additional file 4: Figure S4D). Similar PCR analysis at D8 also showed no significant differences in the ratio of Sry/Il3 between D8 control and decitabine-treated cells (Additional file 4: Figure S4E). Furthermore, qRT-PCR analysis of the Xist gene expression in both D2 and D8 populations with and without decitabine treatment showed no significant change in Xist transcript expression levels between the control and decitabine-treated cells (Additional file 4: Figure S4F-G). Therefore, these results indicate that the observed changes in Mecp2/MeCP2 expression in response to decitabine exposure and withdrawal are not due to a shift in the number of cells deriving from male/female embryos.
