Figure 2. TnC expression peaks a 5DPI and promotes MuSC self-renewal.

(A) Representative Western blot of TnC expression kinetics in uninjured and regenerating whole muscle protein lysates from adult (3–6 months old) mice and quantification (n=3).

(B) Representative immunofluorescence (IF) images of cross-sections from uninjured and injured (5 DPI, and 14 DPI) TA muscles of WT adult mice (TnC red, DAPI blue). Scale bar= 50 µm.

(C) Representative IF images for embryonic myosin heavy-chain (eMyHC) of injured TA muscles (5 DPI) in adult WT and TnC-KO mice (eMyHC, green; laminin, gray; DAPI, blue). Scale bar= 50 µm. Quantification of the cross-sectional area (CSA) (n=4).

(D) Representative IF images of Pax7⁺ cells in injured (5 DPI) TA muscles in adult WT and TnC-KO mice (Pax7, green; laminin, gray; DAPI, blue). Scale bar= 50 µm. Quantification of the number of Pax7⁺ nuclei per mm² (n=4).

(E) Representative IF images of MyoD+ cells in injured (5 DPI) TA muscles in adult WT and TnC-KO mice (MyoD, red; laminin, gray; DAPI, blue). Scale bar= 50 µm. Quantification of MyoD⁺ cells per mm² (n=3).

(F) Representative IF images of Pax7⁺ cells in injured (30 DPI) or double-injured (30 DPI + 30 PDI) TA muscles in adult WT and TnC-KO mice (Pax7, green; laminin, red; DAPI, blue) (Scale bar= 50 µm) and quantification per mm² (n=3).

Data are represented as mean ± SEM; *p<0.05, one-way ANOVA (A); *p<0.05, **p<0.01, t test (C, D, E); *p<0.05, Two-way ANOVA (F).