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. 2008 Oct 27;3(10):e3517. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0003517

Figure 4. Increased proliferation and accumulation of progenitor cells in Wnt5a−/− mice.

Figure 4

(A). Representative coronal sections at the level of the midbrain of 2 hr BrdU-pulsed WT and Wnt5a−/− embryos at E11.5 immunostained for BrdU or Ki67, markers of cells in mitosis. The black squares in (A) depict the area within the alar plate (AP) and floor plate (FP) used for the quantification of BrdU+ cells in (B) (Squares in (A) are not drawn to scale). Note the accumulation of BrdU+ cells in the Wnt5a−/− VM in the adjacent magnified box. Increased Ki67 staining and mitotic figures (arrowheads) in the ventricular zone. (B) The density of BrdU+ proliferating cells was significantly increased within the FP, but no significant change was found within the AP of Wnt5a−/− embryos compared to their wt littermates (C) The number of Ki67+ cells was significantly increased at E12.5 (paired t-test, p = 0.003, N = 3). (D) Mitotic nuclei (arrowheads in (A)) were counted in the midline domain to asses the number of cells in M-phase, and this was also found to be significantly increased in the Wnt5a−/− mutant (paired t-test, p = 0.037, N = 3).