Fig. 1.

Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) and inflammatory cytokine expression in gastrin-deficient (GKO) mice. A: separated epithelium and nonepithelium from C57BL/6 (BL/6) and GKO mouse stomachs. Quantitative (q)RT-PCR analysis of the mesenchymal markers vimentin and Actg2 and the epithelial marker cytokeratin 20 (keratin). Representative of 5 independently dissociated stomachs. B: quantitative RT-PCR was performed on RNA prepared from stomachs dissociated from BL/6 and GKO mice. C: shown is the expression of Shh mRNA relative to the BL/6 group in epithelium. Data are expressed as the means ± SE. *P < 0.05 vs. BL/6 mice; n = 4 mice/group. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stains of stomach sections collected from 4-mo-old BL/6 (D) and GKO mice (E). F: quantification of IL-1β, transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), IL-6, and IFNγ concentrations by Luminex-based multiplex assay using stomach tissues collected from GKO mice compared with the BL/6 mice. Data are expressed as the means ± SE. *P < 0.05 vs. BL/6 mice; n = 4 mice/group.