Tankyrases maintain homeostasis of intestinal epithelium by preventing cell death
Fig 2
Reduced cell proliferation and increased apoptosis appear in Tnks DKO crypts.
(A, B) Immunofluorescence analysis of small intestinal (A) or colon (B) sections from mice at day 4 after the first TAM injection shows the expression of the proliferation marker Ki67. Left panel: Representative images from five mice of each genotype are depicted. Scale bar: 80 μm (A) and 100 μm (B). Right panel: Quantification of the Ki67 positive cells in crypts (n = 4 mice). (C) Small intestine crypt cells were isolated from control and Tnks DKO mice at day 4 after the first TAM injection, stained by propidium iodide (PI), and then subjected to FACS analysis. Left panel: A representative FACS result from 5 mice of each genotype is depicted. Right panel: Quantification of the percentage of dead cells (n = 6 mice). (D) TUNEL assay of small intestine of mice at day 4 after the first TAM injection. Left panel: Representative images from 4 mice of each genotype are depicted. Cell nuclei were counterstained with DAPI. Scale bar: 50 μm. Right panel: Quantification of apoptotic cells of the indicated adult mice (n = 4). 40 fields were scored for each condition. Data are represented as means ± SD, analyzed by two-way ANOVA test. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.