Figure 3.

Fate mapping of adult htNSCs in mice under normal physiology.

ROSA-lox-STOP-lox-YFP mice (chow-fed males, 3 months old) were bilaterally injected in the mediobasal hypothalamus with lentiviruses which directed Cre expression under the control of Sox2 promoter. Following indicated days post viral injection, hypothalamus sections were made for tracking neural differentiation of YFP-labeled cells.

(a) Schematic of lentiviral vector and genetic mouse model. Lentivirus expressing Cre under the control of Sox2 promoter was termed P_sox2-Cre lentivirus. The control was a lentiviral vector without containing Cre (schematic not shown).

(b–i) Co-imaging of YFP (green) (b–d) with immunostaining (red) of Sox2 (b), NeuN (c) or POMC (d) at indicated days post viral injection. Cell nuclear staining (blue) by DAPI revealed all cells in the sections. Bar graphs: YFP-labeled NeuN-positive cells (YFP⁺NeuN⁺) (e); POMC-positive cells (YFP⁺POMC⁺) (f); NPY-positive cells (YFP⁺NPY⁺) (g); S100B-positive cells (YFP⁺S100B⁺) (h) and RIP-Positive cells (YFP⁺RIP⁺) (i) in serial ARC sections were counted.

*** P < 0.001, n = 5 mice (e,f), n = 6 mice (g,i) and n = 4 mice (h) per group. Error bars reflect means ± s.e.m. Scale bar = 50 μm (b–d).