Dicer1 Ablation in the Mouse Epididymis Causes Dedifferentiation of the Epithelium and Imbalance in Sex Steroid Signaling
Figure 5
Cell proliferation and apoptosis.
Ki67 immunostaining; (A) Control; (B) Dicer1fl/fl; Defb41iCre/wt mouse. TUNEL labeling; (D) Control; (E) Dicer1fl/fl; Defb41iCre/wt mouse. Arrows mark apoptotic cells. (C, F) Comparison of number of proliferating cells and apoptotic cells in the initial segment (IS) and caput (CAP) of control (white bars) and Dicer1fl/fl; Defb41iCre/wt mice (grey bars). The number of proliferating and apoptotic cells were calculated from ten tubular cross sections of 5 control and 5 (Ki67 stained) and 8 (TUNEL labeled) Dicer1fl/fl; Defb41iCre/wt mice epididymides and the total cell number was divided by the circumference of the tubular cross sections (mm). Statistical significance of changes, calculated using the unpaired t-test, is indicated as follows: ns, not significant; *, P≤0.05; ***, P≤0.001. Scale bars 100 µm.