Fig. 4: Cell type specification occurs in Rptor-deficient saccules despite loss of cell types in the conducting airways. | Nature Communications

Fig. 4: Cell type specification occurs in Rptor-deficient saccules despite loss of cell types in the conducting airways.

From: mTORC1 signaling facilitates differential stem cell differentiation to shape the developing murine lung and is associated with mitochondrial capacity

Fig. 4

a Immunostaining of lung sections collected from Rptorf/f; ShhCre/+ mice and control littermates at 17.5 days post coitus (dpc). NKX2.1 labeled all epithelial cells, while SOX2 labeled the conducting airways. Scale bar = 25 μm. b Immunostaining of lung sections collected from Rptorf/f; ShhCre/+ mice and control littermates at 17.5 dpc. E-Cadherin (E-Cad) labeled all epithelial cells including the epithelium of the airways and saccules; pRPS6 is a marker of mTORC1 activity. pRPS6 signal was sharply reduced in the lung epithelium of Rptorf/f; ShhCre/+ mice at 17.5 dpc. Scale bar = 10 μm. c Immunostaining of lung sections collected from Rptorf/f; ShhCre/+ mice and control littermates at 17.5 dpc. SPC labeled alveolar epithelial type II (AT2) cells, while T1α (PDPN) or HOPX marked alveolar epithelial type I (AT1) cells. Scale bar = 25 μm. d Immunostaining of lung sections collected from Rptorf/f; ShhCre/+ mice and control littermates at 17.5 dpc. CC10 marked club (Clara) cells and Ac-tub marked ciliated cells in the airways. Scale bar = 10 μm. e Quantification of the percentage of SOX2+ cells in the conducting airways (n = 3 for each group), shown in (a). f Quantification of the percentage of Ac-tub+ and CC10+ cells in the conducting airways (n = 3 for each group), shown in (d). g Quantification of the percentage of HOPX+ (AT1) cells and SPC+ (AT2) cells in the saccules (n = 3 for each group), shown in (c). h Quantification of the percentage of T1α+ cells in the non-saccular epithelium (excluding the trachea and main stem bronchi) (n = 3 for each group), shown in (c). i Quantification of the relative pRPS6 signal in the lung epithelium (n = 3 for each group), shown in (b). Five views per lung (a total of 15 views) were used for counting in (e–i). All values are mean ± SEM. (**) p < 0.01; (***) p < 0.001; ns not significant (two-tailed, unpaired Student’s t-test). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

Back to article page