Fig. 1.
Dicer-deficient NSCs can self-renew. (A,B) A great reduction of neurospheres derived from NSCs of DicerCre/loxp (Ko) mice, as compared with controls (Ctrl), was observed. The primary neurosphere is termed as passage-0 (p-0). n=4 wells; **P<0.001. (C,D) The surviving Dicer-deficient NSCs produced numbers of neurospheres similar to those in controls after passaging, shown as a representative experiment at passage-2 (p-2). n=4 wells. (E) Dicer proteins were absent in Dicer-deficient neurospheres, shown as examples of passage-1 (p-1) and p-2, detected by western blotting assays. Actin served as a loading control. (F) miRNAs, for example miR-181b and miR-125b, were absent in p-1 Dicer-deficient neurospheres, as detected by northern blotting analyses. U6 served as a loading control.