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Fig. 2. Vexin is expressed in the developing Xenopus nervous system. (A) RT-PCR analysis of vxn expression using Xenopus whole embryo cDNA. EF1α was used as a loading control. Control PCR was performed using no cDNA template (no templ). (B–E) Whole-mount in situ hybridization analysis of vxn expression at stage 15 (B), stage 19 (C), and at stage 27 (D, dorsal view; E, anterior view). (F-I) Shown are stage 25 and stage 33 d with axial levels for the sections in F-I (Nieuwkoop and Faber, 1994). In situ hybridization analysis of vxn expression on transverse sections of the neural tube at stage 25 (F), and 33 (G), and of the head including the optic vesicle at stage 25 (H) and the developing retina at stage 33 (I). (J-M) Analysis of vxn expression in the stage 41 retina. (J) Nuclear Hoechst staining shows the three layers of post-mitotic neurons (RGC, INL, ONL) within the central retina, as well as the peripheral ciliary marginal zone (CMZ) that contains retinal progenitors. (K) Fluorescent in situ hybridization shows vxn expression (red) in the CMZ. (L) Anti-BrdU immunostaining (green) labels proliferating retinal progenitors in the CMZ. (J) A merged image of (J-L) shows that vxn expression overlaps with BrdU-positive progenitors (arrows), and is also detected in early differentiating post-mitotic cells more centrally. Abbreviations: L, lens; RGC, retinal ganglion cell layer; INL, inner nuclear layer; ONL, outer nuclear layer. |
