Figure 5
Administration of receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL) fails to induce the development of GP2high microfold (M) cells in the cecum. (a) Whole-mount immunohistochemical images of Tnfaip2 and Glycoprotein 2 (GP2) in ileal and cecal follicle-associated epithelium (FAE). Left panels are the FAEs from C57BL/6 mice administrated with glutathione S-transferase (GST; control) and right panels are those with GST-RANKL. Administrations of GST or GST-RANKL were performed as described in Methods. (b and c) The left panels show scatter plots summarizing the proportions of GP2high M cells (b). The right panels show scatter plots summarizing the frequency of Tnfaip2-positive M cells in individual FAE from the indicated lymphoid organs (c). **P<0.05, ***P<0.001; P-values were calculated by Dunnett’s test. (d) Whole-mount immunohistochemical images of Tnfaip2 and GP2 in conventional epithelia from the ileum and cecum of GST (control) or GST-RANKL-injected C57BL/6 mice. The ileal specimen is composed of three villi and many crypts. (e) Quantitative PCR analysis of the expression of M-cell markers in conventional epithelia from the ileum and cecum of GST (control) or GST-RANKL-injected mice. Results are normalized to Gapdh expression and are presented relative to the expression in ileal epithelium from GST-treated mice. Data are representative of two independent experiments (error bars indicate s.d.). Bars= 20 μm (a) and 100 μm (d).
