Fig. 1.
Cochlear epithelial cells from stage P5 mice fail to expand and produce hair cells in organoid culture. Organoid cultures were established from cochlear epithelia cells obtained from Atoh1-nGFP transgenic mice, stages P2 and P5. Atoh1-nGFP marks nascent hair cells. (A) Experimental design. (B) Brightfield (BF) images of P2 and P5 cochlear organoid cultures after 5 d of expansion. (C) Organoid forming efficiency in P2 (blue) and P5 (red) cultures in B (n = 8). (D) Organoid diameters in P2 (blue) and P5 (red) cultures in B (n = 8). (E) Cell proliferation in P2 and P5 organoids. A single EdU pulse was given at 5 d of expansion and EdU incorporation (red) was analyzed 1 h later. SOX2 (green) marks supporting cells/prosensory cells and Hoechst (blue) labels cell nuclei. (F) Percentage of EdU+ cells in P2 and P5 organoids in E (n = 8). (G) BF and green fluorescent images (Atoh1-nGFP) of P2 and P5 organoid cultures after 10 d of differentiation. (H) Percentage of Atoh1-nGFP+ organoids in G (n = 6). (I) Confocal images of P2 and P5 organoid cultures after 10 d of differentiation. Newly formed hair cells express Atoh1-nGFP (green) and MYO7A (magenta). (J) Percentage of MYO7A+ hair cells per organoid in I (n = 6). Graphed are individual data points and mean ± SD. Individual data points in D, F, and J represent the average value per animal. n = animals analyzed per group. All data are from two independent experiments. Two-tailed, unpaired Student’s t tests were used to calculate P values.
