Rac1 Is Required for Epithelial Stem Cell Function during Dermal and Oral Mucosal Wound Healing but Not for Tissue Homeostasis in Mice
Figure 4
Lack of oral epithelial tongue migration in K14CreRac1F/F mice.
(A) Immunofluorescence for cytokeratins 10 and 14 (K10/14, red), fibrinogen (green) and DNA staining (Hoechst 33342-blue) delineating cellular nuclei of control tissue sections staining the oral mucosa. Two days after the oral wound the epithelial tongue is visible migrating over the fibrin(ogen) clot (green) and the oral mucosa is healed by day 3.5. (B) Tissue sections from K14CreRac1F/F mice stained as above show complete impairment of oral mucosa migration and maintenance of the punch biopsy trajectory evident by the fibrin(ogen) staining by day 3.5 (green). Note that high magnification (20x) of K10/14 staining show progressive loss of the well defined basal layer of the oral mucosa and absence of a epithelial tongue (yellow arrows).