Fig. 4.

Loss of ITCH promotes epithelial apoptosis in the small intestine. Paraffin embedded sections from the distal small intestine of young adult Itch^+/+ and Itch^a18H/a18H animals (n = 4 for each genotype) were immunostained for cleaved-caspase 3 and counterstained with hematoxylin. Representative photomicrographs are shown. While rare apoptotic cells could be found at the tips of villi in animals of both genotypes (arrowheads, top row of micrographs), increased apoptosis was seen at the crypt-villus junction in only those animals lacking ITCH (bottom row, 63x). Scale bars = 100 μm (top row) or 50 μm (bottom row).