Figure 4.

Laser capture microdissection and gene expression analysis of leptomeningeal cells. (A,B) Laser capture microdissection (LCM) was performed to distinguish leptomeningeal from parenchymal gene expression. (A) Shows a coronal brain section with the entire meningeal layer before LCM. (B) Shows the same section after meningeal dissection. From each stage of development (E20, P0, P15, adult), at least 1000 cells were collected from meningeal tissue (B). (C) qRT-PCR on collected samples was performed for gene expression analysis. As expected from immunofluorescence and WB analysis, we detected expression of nestin, vimentin, Sox2 and DCX genes. Expression of all these neural precursor-related genes persisted up to adulthood. SVZ samples from 6 to 8 weeks adult rats were used as positive control. ^*p < 0.05; ^****p < 0.0001. Values are mean ± SEM of 3 replicates.