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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2007 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: Dev Biol. 2006 Oct 24;303(1):1–15. doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2006.10.026

Figure 4. Fetal gut NCSCs give rise to enteric neurons when transplanted into the embryonic gut.

Figure 4

Chick guts that had been engrafted by transplanted E14.5 p75+α 4+ gut NCSCs (Fig. 3) were analyzed for the presence of rat neurons bearing enteric phenotypes. Sections adjacent to those bearing hPAP+ cells were triple labeled with antibodies against hPAP (green; A, E, I), the neuronal marker β III-tubulin (blue; B, F, J) and multiple markers expressed by enteric neurons including NPY (red, C), nNOS (red, G), and VIP (red, K). The sections were then examined by confocal microscopy. Triple labeled cells are indicated by white arrowheads. Approximately 90% of hPAP+ cells co-expressed β III-tubulin (M) and 50% of hPAP+ β III-tubulin+ neurons co- expressed the enteric neuronal marker nNOS (G, M). Approximately 40% of hPAP+ β III-tubulin+ neurons co- expressed NPY (C, M), and 10% co-expressed VIP (K, M). Adjacent tissue sections were also probed for Stmn2 (N) and Gata2 expression (O). The lack of Gata2 expression demonstrates that these cells acquired an enteric fate, as sympathetic and parasympathetic neurons express Gata2 (Groves et al., 1995; White and Anderson, 1999). We could not detect neuronal or glial marker expression in any of five guts engrafted with sciatic nerve NCSCs (not shown).