Figure 8.

Stabilization of β-catenin in a subset of pericytes and fibroblasts is sufficient to drive myofibroblast transformation. (A and B) Transcripts of canonical Wnt pathway target genes Axin2 and Lef1 are analyzed by qPCR and found to be unchanged after UUO in Wnt4^flox/+ and Wnt4^del/flox mice. (C–E) Western blot comparing levels of stabilized β-catenin protein between CLK and UUO samples from Wnt4^flox/+ mice, CLK and UUO from Wnt4^del/flox mice, and UUO between both genotypes. β-catenin levels are increased after UUO in both genotypes compared with CLK and do not differ from each other after UUO (quantitation not shown). (F) Gli1^CE/+;Catnb^ΔEx3/+ mice are treated with corn oil or tamoxifen at 1 mg for 5 days. Two weeks after the last injection, lysates are probed for expression of β-catenin and αSMA. An increase in β-catenin and αSMA protein is observed in the tamoxifen-treated mice. (G) αSMA transcript is significantly increased in the tamoxifen-treated group. (H) A tdTomato+ interstitial cell in tri-genic Gli1^CE/+;Catnb^ΔEx3/+;tdTomato^+/− mouse expressing αSMA. In A and B, data are analyzed by two-way ANOVA comparing between genotypes in each condition. In G, data are analyzed by the t test. DAPI, 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole.