Figure 2. Muscle-specific Dlk1 cKO results in impaired muscle regeneration after injury.

A–F: Morphology of TA muscle 1 week after cardiotoxin injury in WT (A–C) and cKO mice (D–F). A, D: Fluorescent immunostaining of mouse IgG showing injured fibers in red and Dapi nuclei staining in green. B, E: Brightfield images showing increased fibrosis and scarification (Dark signal due to poor light penetration) in cKO mutant muscles. C, F: H–E staining showing poor organization and increased infiltration of non-myogenic cells in mutant muscles. G: Myogenin mRNA levels increase after injury, but cKO mice have an impaired myogenin response (n = 4). H: Total number of nascent fibers (n = 7 pairs) are decreased in cKO injured muscles. I: Levels of phosphorylated Akt are decreased in cKO muscle compared to WT control and injured muscles.