Fig. 1.

Mice treated with HhAntag for 21 days have reduced renewal of taste bud and FF papilla epithelium. (C) Krt5^rtTA;tetO^Cre;R26R^YFP mice were treated with vehicle or HhAntag twice daily (blue arrows) for 21 days, and fed dox chow overnight on day 7. Typical (A) and atypical (B) FFP with K8⁺ taste buds (red) are present in controls and mutants. (D-F) Control FFP taste buds have robust levels of K8⁺ cells (red), and K5-YFP⁺ progeny are evident (green) in taste buds and FFP epithelium (arrows). (G-I) HhAntag-treated mice have fewer K8⁺ taste cells (red) and K5-YFP⁺ lineage-traced cells (green), and distorted morphology. (J) HhAntag treatment results in significantly fewer taste buds and FFP with K5-YFP lineage-traced cells. (K,L) Taste bud size, i.e. the number of K8⁺ pixels, is reduced in typical (K) and atypical (L) FFP in HhAntag-treated mice. Nuclei are counterstained with Draq5 (blue); white dashed lines indicate basement membrane; solid line indicates tongue surface; mc, mesenchymal core. Images are compressed confocal z-stacks. Scale bars: 10 μm. n=3 or 4 mice per condition. Data are represented as mean±s.d. analyzed using two-way ANOVA (J) or Student's t-test (K,L). **P<0.01, ****P<0.0001.