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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 May 14.
Published in final edited form as: Development. 2008 Oct 16;135(22):3745–3753. doi: 10.1242/dev.024786

Fig. 5. Constitutive Notch signaling restricts Leydig cell differentiation throughout fetal gonad development, but cannot change the fate of differentiated Leydig cells.

Fig. 5

The coelomic domain of the gonad is upwards, anterior is leftwards and posterior is rightwards. (A–D) H&E staining of mouse testis sections at P1, with (A,B) or without (C,D) immunostaining for 3β-HSD (black) in RosaNotch; Sf1-cre gonads (B,D) compared with gonads from mice carrying only one of the two transgenes (A,C). Spindle shaped cells increased in RosaNotch; Sf1-cre gonads (green arrows in D), whereas Eosin-staining Leydig cells (LC) declined. (E–H) Immunofluorescent staining for LHX9 (red, nuclear staining; cytoplasmic staining is nonspecific background) and DNA (Syto13, blue in E,F) or NICD (green in G,H) shows increased LHX9-positive cells in RosaNotch; Sf1-cre gonads, some of which were expressing Notch (white arrows in H, yellow staining cells). Broken lines outline testis cords. (I) RosaNotch; Hs-cre mice were heat-shocked at 13.5 dpc, after Leydig cell differentiation is initiated. At 15.5 dpc, many 3β-HSD-positive cells were detected (red), some also expressing NICD (green). Scale bars: 20 μm.