Fig. 4: Regression of lacteal and attenuated Vegfc in intestinal villi of Yap/Taz^iΔPβC mice.

a Diagram depicting the generation of Yap/Taz^iΔPβC mouse and PDGFRβ⁺ cell-specific depletion of Yap/Taz in small intestinal villi starting at 6 weeks and their analyses at 3 months after tamoxifen treatment. b, c Representative images of LYVE-1⁺ lacteals and CD31⁺ capillary plexus under the E-cadherin⁺ intestinal epithelial cells and comparisons of the lacteal length, lacteal width, villi length, and villi width in duodenum (DD), jejunum (JJ), and ileum (IL) of the indicated part of small intestine in WT and Yap/Taz^iΔPβC mice. Dots indicate values from 134~159 villi/group from three independent experiments using n = 5 mice/group. Horizontal bars indicate mean ± SD and *** P < 0.0001 versus WT by two-tailed Mann–Whitney U test. n.s., not significant. Scale bars, 100 μm. d, e Representative images and comparison of VE-cadherin⁺ lymphatic endothelial cell (LEC) junctions of LYVE-1⁺ lacteals in the villi of WT and Yap/Taz^iΔPβC mice. Arrowheads indicate the button-type (WT) or zipper-type dominant junctional pattern (Yap/Taz^iΔPβC). Horizontal bars of each colored segment represent mean ± SD of 5~10 villi/mouse and n = 5 mice/group pooled from three independent experiments. *** P < 0.0001 versus WT by two-way ANOVA with Holm–Sidak’s multiple comparisons test. Scale bars, 20 μm. f Plasma triglyceride concentration (mg/dl) at the indicated time points after gavage of 200 μl of olive oil following fasting for 12 h in WT and Yap/Taz^iΔPβC mice. Each dot indicates a value from n = 6 (WT) or n = 5 (Yap/Taz^iΔPβC) mice pooled from three independent experiments. Horizontal bars indicate mean ± SD and P value versus WT by two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s multiple comparisons test. g Comparison of Vegfc mRNA expression in the intestinal villi lysates of WT and Yap/Taz^iΔPβC mice. Fold changes in mRNA expressions relative to the levels of WT mice are presented. Each dot indicates a value obtained from one mouse and n = 4 mice/group pooled from three independent experiments. Horizontal bars indicate mean ± SD and P value versus WT by two-tailed Mann–Whitney U test.