Figure 7.

Telocytes are only found at the base of the gland when metaplasia develops in that region. (A) Immunofluorescence staining of FOXL1 (red), PDGFRα (green), and GSII (blue) on the ST2KO mouse model. Inhibition of metaplasia development in the ST2KO stomach was observed. L635 treatment on the ST2KO stomach prevented metaplasia and resulted in the absence of telocytes at the base. However, supplementation with recombinant IL13 induced metaplasia and concurrent telocyte presence. The untreated ST2KO stomach exhibited telocyte distribution similar to the untreated WT stomach. Scale bar: 100 μm and 50 μm for enlarged. (B) Quantification of telocyte count. The number of FOXL1+ PDGFRα+ DAPI+ telocytes did not change in ST2KO untreated or ST2KO L635-treated stomachs. However, there was a significant increase in the number of telocytes in ST2KO treated with both L635 and recombinant IL13. Data presented as mean ± standard deviation (n = 4 for WT and n = 3 for ST2KO). n.s., not statistically significant; ∗P < .05; ∗∗P < .01. Dunnett multiple comparisons test; 1-way analysis of variance (F (4, 12) = 5.682; P = .0084). (C) Quantification of telocyte distribution within the gland. Telocyte distribution is illustrated in distribution histograms, where the y-axis represents the relative height within the corpus gland, divided into 10% increments (1 = top and 0 = base), and the x-axis represents the percentage of telocytes in each region. Administration of L635 in ST2KO mice resulted in an unchanged telocyte distribution. However, combined treatment L635 and recombinant IL13 in ST2KO mice led to a shift in telocyte distribution, characterized by a reduction of telocytes at the top and an increase of telocytes at the base. Data presented as mean ± standard deviation (n = 3 for Untreated and n = 4 for Mist1-Kras 1 month). ∗P < .05; ∗∗P < .01; ∗∗∗P < .001; ∗∗∗∗P < .0001. Dunnett multiple comparisons test; 2-way analysis of variance for interaction (F (36, 108) = 4.932; P < .0001).