Figure 1

Thymus development in Nlk- and Ctnnb1-deficient mice. (A) X-Gal staining of E15.5 BATgal-transgenic thymus (upper panel) and whisker follicles (lower panel). (B,C) Thymus sections stained with H&E (top panels), or subjected to Foxn1 RNA in situ hybridization (ISH) (bottom panels). (D) Immunofluorescence (IF) analysis of thymus sections with antibodies against β-catenin, K8 and K5 for the indicated genotypes. E15.5 embryos of the indicated genotypes are shown in (B–D). Scale bars are indicated. (E) Total thymocyte cell counts. (F) Intra-cellular staining for β-catenin expressed by gated CD45⁻EpCAM⁺ TECs (Control TECs, black, Ctnnb1-deficient TECs, red). (G) Percentage of β-catenin-negative TECs. (H and L) Proportions (H) and total numbers (L) of EpCAM⁺ TECs. (I&M) Proportions (I) and total numbers (M) of Ly51⁺ TECs. (J&N) Proportions (J) and total numbers (N) of CD80⁺ TECs. (K&O) Proportions (K) and total numbers (O) of UEA-1⁺ TECs. Analyses of TECs from newborn control (black columns) and Ctnnb1-deficient (open columns) mice are shown in (E–O). Bar graphs are presented as mean ± SD.