Fig. 2: HSPCs lack hepatocyte refuge in the early fetal liver.
From: Fetal hepatocytes protect the HSPC genome via fetuin-A
a, The strategy of hepatocyte tracing using Alb-Cre;ROSA26-LSL-tdTomato mice. b, Alb-expressing cells (red) coexpressed the epithelial marker E-cadherin but not the haematopoietic cell lineage markers (CD3, B220, Gr-1, Mac-1 and Ter119) or the endothelial and mesenchymal marker laminin (n = 3). Scale bars, 25 µm. c, Representative fluorescence images showing tomato fluorescent protein-labelled hepatocytes and HSPCs (Kit (green)) in the developing fetal liver (n = 3). Scale bar, 500 µm. d, The strategy of hepatocyte depletion using Alb-Cre;ROSA26-LSL-DTA mice. e,g, Representative fluorescence images (e) and mean fluorescence intensity (g) of albumin red in the E16.5 fetal liver of Alb-cre+/–iDTA−/− and Alb-cre+/–iDTA+/− mice (n = 3). Scale bars, 1 mm. f,h–k, Representative fluorescence images (f) and the numbers of Kit+ cells (h), the arterial blood vessels (Sca-1+; i), the sinusoid surface area (CD144+; j) and the perivascular surface area (Nestin+; k) in the E16.5 fetal liver of Alb-cre+/–iDTA+/− and Alb-cre+/–iDTA−/− mice (n = 3; n = 5 for Alb-cre+/–iDTA−/−; n = 4 for Alb-cre+/–iDTA+/− (h–k)). Scale bars, 25 µm and 100 µm. l,m, Representative fluorescence images (l) and positive cell proportions (m) of γ-H2AX in Kit+ HSPCs in the E16.5 fetal liver from Alb-cre+/–iDTA+/− and Alb-cre+/–iDTA−/− mice after Eto treatment in vivo (n = 3). Scale bars, 20 µm. The n represents independent experiments (b,c) and individual fetuses from three independent experiments (e–m). The mean ± s.d. is shown (g–k,m). Unpaired one-sided Student’s t-test (h) and unpaired two-sided Student’s t-test (g,i–k,m) were used.
