FIGURE 3:

Genetic ablation of PLD1 inhibits myoblast fusion in vitro. (A) Immunofluorescence analysis of desmin and myogenin expression in primary myoblasts derived from WT and PLD1^−/− skeletal muscles and subjected to differentiation for up to 4 d. Nuclei were counterstained with DAPI. (B, C) Fusion index was determined by dividing the number of nuclei within myotubes by the total number of nuclei in a microscopic field (three to four microscopic fields/sample). The data were collected from three independent experiments and are shown as mean ± SD (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01). (D) Percentage of desmin-positive mononuclear cells was determined in WT and PLD1^−/− cultures after 4 d in differentiation (n = 3, *p < 0.05). (E) Percentages of desmin- and myogenin-positive cells were determined in WT and PLD1^−/− cultures after 4 d in differentiation (n = 3).