Fig. 7: Niches in weanling (4-week-old) pigs.

a Staining of SOX2, SOX17, and PDX1 showed a significant enrichment at the cystic duct and in the major papilla at the duodenum, illustrating the retention of stem cell niches for the adult pigs. Notice the positive signal for SOX17 in the deeper submucosa area of the duodenum. Scale bars for the panorama = 2.5 mm; for the enlargement images are 50 μm, except the Sox17 in the opening of the duodenum (130 μm). b Staining of the pancreas of the weanling piglet. The stem cell niches were observed at the pancreatic duct near the duodenum and in the duodenal lobe adjacent to the head of the pancreas, according to the staining of EpCAM and PDX1. They are not evident in the remaining lobes of the pancreas, where there are committed progenitors, but not stem cells, distinguished by expression of SOX9, FOXA2, INSULIN, but not PDX1, SOX2, and SOX17. Scale bars for the panorama = 4 mm; for all staining if the duodenal of the pancreas is 100 μm; for the splenic lobe of the pancreas are 50 μm.