Fig. 6.

Decreased BrdU incorporation in the germinative zone of aPKCλ cko lenses. (A and B) S-phase nuclei were labelled with BrdU (red) for 1 h followed by DAPI staining (blue). The marked areas (a–d) of E16.5 lenses in (A) are enlarged in (B). Similar numbers of BrdU-positive cells were observed in the central zone of the lens epithelium in control and aPKCλ cko lenses. In the germinative zone, however, there were significantly less BrdU-positive cells in the aPKCλ cko lens than in an age-matched control. (C) BrdU incorporation rate (%, upper row) and cell number in a set length (100 μm, lower row). BrdU incorporation rate was decreased in the germinative zone of aPKCλ cko lenses. Both labelled and unlabelled cells were counted and the incorporation rate is presented as the percentage of cells that were labelled. Means ± SEM (n =   number of slides counted); ⁎P < 0.01 and ⁎⁎P < 0.0001 by two-tailed Student's t test. Cells counted: central zone control, 3031; cko, 2567; germinative zone control, 2071; cko, 1172. Epithelial layer length examined: central zone control, 12,309 μm; cko, 12,078 μm; germinative zone control, 6797 μm; cko, 6733 μm. Scale bars: 100 μm for E12.5 and 200 μm for E16.5 in (A) and 50 μm in (B).