Fig. 3: The immunochemistry (IHC) and section in situ hybridization (SISH) of embryonic and juvenile feather follicles in chickens and zebra finches, and the functional perturbation of α-SMA (ACTA2) in adult chicken flight feather follicles.
From: Conserved regulatory switches for the transition from natal down to juvenile feather in birds
The schemes of embryonic (upper) and juvenile (lower) feather follicles are shown in the left side. The immunostaining of α-SMA (ACTA2), TNC, and DAPI in embryonic chicken (a–a”), juvenile chicken (b–d”), and juvenile zebra finch (e–e”) feather follicles (n = 5 biologically independent samples). a1–e1 The SISH with TWIST2 in the same tissues with (a–e”). The distinguishable collar regions are highlighted by black dot lines and the signals enriched in the peripheral pulps are indicated by red arrows (n = 3 biologically independent samples). a2–e2 The IHC with ZEB2 in the same tissues with (a–e”). H&E staining (f) and immunostaining of α-SMA (g), TNC (h), VIM (i), and NCAM (j) in control follicles. (n = 2 biologically independent samples). H&E (f’) staining and immunostaining of α-SMA (g’), TNC (h’), VIM (i’), and NCAM (j’) in RCAS-dnACTA2 injected follicles (n = 7 biologically independent samples). CK chicken; ZF zebra finch; PP pulp; pPP peripheral pulp; cPP central pulp; DP dermal papilla; aDP apical dermal papilla; bDP basal dermal papilla; CL collar epidermis. Scale bar: 100 µm.
