Figure 9.
Ret inactivation in SCPs causes hypoganglionosis in the terminal colon. A, Schematic showing conditional inactivation of the Ret gene in SCPs by Dhh::Cre. The Ret locus of the control and cKO animals harbors wild-type and null (orange cross) alleles, respectively, in addition to the Retfl–CFP reporter allele. B, Representative images of whole-mount PGP9.5 staining of the distal colon of control and cKO mice aged 4 months. C, Quantification of enteric neurons in the terminal colon of control and cKO mice at 4 months. Significant differences detected by t test with Welch's correction (n = 3 mice from 3 litters; error bars represent SEM; F(2,2) = 1.263, *p = 0.0204). Scale bars, 50 μm.