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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Feb 22.
Published in final edited form as: Dev Cell. 2021 Jan 4;56(4):525–539.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2020.12.005

Figure 1. Characterization of epidermal MCC loss during Xenopus development.

Figure 1.

(A-D) Pseudo-colored scanning electron micrographs from developmental stages (st.) 32 through 47. Cf. Figure S1 for non-colored images. (A) Analysis of the changing composition of mucociliary cell types in the epidermis shows progressive loss of MCCs (green), while ionocytes (ISCs, yellow), small secretory cells (SSCs, red) and mucus-secreting Goblet cells (blue) remain present. (B) Analysis of MCC-loss patterns on whole tadpoles. MCCs are marked by green dots. Neuromasts are marked by magenta dots. Box indicates magnified area. Arrowhead indicates MCC loss ventral to the eye. (C) Magnification of skin area devoid of MCCs at st. 45 reveals presence of lateral line neuromast (NM, purple). (D) Magnified image of a neuromast. Kinocilium (green), stereocilia (yellow), support cells (purple). (A-D) st. 32 N = 7; st. 40/41 N = 6; st. 45 N = 3; st. 47 N = 3 embryos. (E) Confocal micrograph of NMs (p27::GFP, green; yellow arrowheads) and MCCs (Ac.-α-Tubulin, grey). The picture was reconstructed from multiple images. (F) Confocal micrograph of p27::GFP (green; NMs marked by yellow arrowheads) transgenic tadpole stained for cilia (Ac.-α-Tubulin, grey; MCCs marked by blue arrowheads) and F-actin (Actin, magenta) shows lack of MCCs around NMs and GFP expression in a subset of ciliated neuromast cells. (E, F) N = 3 embryos. (G) Quantification of MCCs in areas with 150μm diameter around NMs (yellow) or MCCs (blue) shows reduced density of MCCs around NMs in the specimen depicted in (E). Mann Whitney test, *** P < 0.001. Images in B, E and F were reconstructed from multiple individual micrographs.