Fig. 3.

Blimp1 CKO mice upregulate bipolar cell-specific genes. All panels show peripheral retina. (A-C) E18 control (A) and CKO (B,C) retina stained for Blimp1 (green). All Blimp1⁺ cells co-express Otx2 (red) in control and CKO mice (arrow). Despite the loss of Blimp1 (bracketed) in CKO sections, there is no effect on the expression of Otx2 (B) or Sox9 (red) (C). (D,E) E18 sections stained for Blimp1 (green) and Vsx1 (red). Control mice had no detectable Vsx1 (D), but a few Vsx1⁺ cells (arrows) are seen in Blimp1-deleted regions of CKO mice (E). (F,G) At P0, no intensely labeled Chx10⁺ (red) or Vsx1⁺ cells are seen in control sections (F), but they are present in Blimp1-deleted regions of CKO mice (G). (H,I) At P1, Otx2 (red) and Sox9 (green) have minimal overlap in control (H) and CKO (I) retinas and show similar expression patterns in both genotypes. (J,K) The early mature photoreceptor markers recoverin (green) and s-opsin (red) are reduced at P1 and P3 in CKO retinas (K) compared with controls (J). (L,M) At P1, control retinas (L) do not label for Vsx1 (green). In CKO sections (M), all Vsx1⁺ cells co-express Otx2 (red). (N) P1 CKO retina showing abundant staining for Chx10 (red) and Vsx1 (green). (O,P) P3 control (O) and CKO (P) retinas stained for Otx2 (red) and Sox9 (green). These markers had little overlap and a similar distribution in both genotypes. (Q,R) P3 control (Q) and CKO (R) sections stained for Chx10 (red) and Vsx1 (green) showing their absence in controls and abundance in CKO retinas. Scale bars: 50 μm, except 5 μm for insets.