Fig 2. Progressive skin abnormalities in ko^G mice.

(A) H&E staining of longitudinal skin sections from mice at 3W and 2M and immunofluorescence staining for epidermal differentiation markers. Smaller pictures within the ko^G panel show patches of interfollicular K6. Nuclei were counterstained with Hoechst. Scale bars: 200 μm (H&E) or 40 μm (immunofluorescence). Note the scaling in ko^G mice. The appropriate expression pattern of the differentiation markers and their function in the epidermis are shown schematically in (B). K = Keratin, Flg = Filaggrin, Lor = Loricrin. (C) Thickness of the viable epidermis (all layers except the stratum corneum). 3W (N = 6) and 2M (N = 6/7). (D,E) qRT-PCR of Lor (N = 5/4) and Flg (N = 5) relative to Rps29 using RNA from the epidermis at 3W and 2M. (F) Western blot of epidermal lysates at 3W for Lor, Flg and α-Tubulin (loading control). Shown is one representative sample for each genotype (N = 4). (G) Electron microscopy of the stratum corneum at 3W showing reduced adhesiveness of the corneocytes in the epidermis of ko^G mice. Scale bars: 5.5 μm (left panels) or 2.5 μm (right panels). (H) TEWL of mice at 3W (N = 8/9) and 2M (N = 12/8). Scatter plots show the median with interquartile range. *P ≤ 0.05, **P ≤ 0.01.