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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Jan 4.
Published in final edited form as: Placenta. 2017 Apr 21;55:5–12. doi: 10.1016/j.placenta.2017.04.014

Fig. 3. Notch activity as indicated by Venus-YFP expression in maternal and fetal cells types in the placenta.

Fig. 3

(A) Schematic representation of a mature, E12.5 placenta. (B) H&E of a placental section at E12.5 with asterisks in maternal blood spaces. IF was performed on tissue sections and nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). (C) CD31 identifies maternal ECs in the decidua and fetal ECs in the labyrinth. Cytokeratin identifies TBs in the decidua (white arrow: maternal vessel; arrowheads: TBs surrounding maternal vessels), junctional zone (yellow arrows: maternal canal in C and C1; arrowhead: C-TGC in C1), and labyrinth (C2, arrow: syncytiotrophoblast; arrowhead: S-TGC). In the decidua, chimeric vessels are comprised of CD31+ (red) ECs and cytokeratin+ (green) SpA-TGCs (C, white arrow). (D) Tpbpa identifies SpTCs and GlyTCs around maternal blood spaces (asterisk) in the junctional zone. (E–K) Venus-YFP in placental sections at E10.5 (asterisks are in maternal blood spaces). (E) Notch activity was detected in P-TGCs at the decidua/junctional zone border (yellow arrows), in junctional zone TBs that express Tpbpa (red signal) and in Ch-TGCs (white arrow). Cytokeratin+ P-TGCs with Venus-YFP (F, arrow) express Notch2 (G, arrow) and Notch4 (H, arrow). (I) Negative control stained with the anti-rabbit secondary used for panels E–H. (J) Venus-YFP was detected in ECs of labyrinthine fetal vessels that express Notch1. (K) Negative control stained with the anti-goat secondary used for panel J. (L–T) Venus-YFP in placental sections at E12.5 (asterisks are in maternal blood spaces). Venus-YFP was detected in Notch1+ ECs of maternal decidual vessels (L, O: arrow marks vessel wall) and in TBs surrounding the decidual vessels (M, arrow marks vessel lumen; P, arrow marks vessel wall. Notch2 (Q) and Notch4 (R) expression was detected in decidual TBs with Venus-YFP. Arrow in R marks a vessel lumen. Venus-YFP was detected in junctional zone SpTCs and GlyTCs that express Tpbpa (S) and in ECs of fetal labyrinthine capillaries that express Notch1 (L, T). (N) Notch activity was significantly lower in the junctional zone as compared to labyrinth and decidua. *P < 0.05. Dotted lines separate layers of the placenta. D, decidua; JZ, junctional zone; L, labyrinth. Scale bars B, C, C1, D, L, M = 100 µm. Scale bars C2, E–K and O–T = 25 µm.