Figure 2.

Characterization of the thyroids of adult Fgf10 Ex1^mut/Ex3^mut chimeric mice complemented with mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs). (A) Hematoxylin and eosin staining of thyroid tissues from adult Fgf10 ^wild/_wild mice, and Fgf10 Ex1^wild/Ex3^mut and Ex1^mut/Ex3^mut chimeric mice. The bottom panels show magnified views of the areas indicated by the dotted lines in the top panels. (B) Immunofluorescence staining of the thyroids of Fgf10 Ex1^mut/Ex3^mut chimeric neonates for GFP (green) and various markers (red): TTF1, thyroid transcription factor 1; FOXE1, forkhead box E1; and PAX8, paired box gene 8 for follicular cells, Calcitonin for parafollicular cells, and Vimentin for stromal cells. Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). Fgf10 ^wild/_wild and Fgf10 Ex1^wild/Ex3^mut chimeric mice served as controls. Insets show magnified views of the areas indicated with white dotted lines. The right panels show magnified views of the areas indicated by the dotted lines in the left panels. Scale bars = 100 μm for (A); 50 μm for (B). (C) Enumeration of GFP/TTF1-positive thyroid follicular cells in adult Fgf10 Ex1^mut/Ex3^mut, Fgf10 Ex1^mut or Ex3^mut, and Fgf10 ^wild/_wild chimeric mice. Data are expressed as the means ± standard deviations; n = 3/group. *p < 0.05 versus other treatments; ^# p > 0.05 versus Fgf10 ^wild/_wild chimeras.