Fig. 7

AAV-mediated WNT4 supplementation reduces asymmetric fission of small intestinal crypts in mice with radiation injury. A Representative images of HE staining (left) of the small intestinal tissues of the irradiated mice treated with AAV-vector (n = 5) or AAV-Wnt4 (n = 5) or the sham-irradiated control mice (n = 3). The proportions of symmetric and asymmetric crypt fissions in the small intestinal tissues of mice in the three groups were calculated (right). The black and red arrow heads in the sham-irradiated control group indicate crypt not undergoing fission and crypt undergoing symmetric fission, respectively, which are magnified in the next row (left). The yellow arrows in the irradiated AAV-vector group indicate crypts undergoing asymmetric fissions, which are magnified in the next row (middle). The red arrows in the irradiated AAV-Wnt4 group indicate crypts undergoing symmetric fissions, which are magnified in the next row (right). Scale bars, 50 μm (upper row) and 25 μm (lower row). B Representative images of lysozyme and Ki67 staining of the small intestinal tissues of the irradiated mice treated with AAV-vector (n = 5) or AAV-Wnt4 (n = 5) or the sham-irradiated control mice (n = 3). Scale bars, 50 μm. The numbers of mislocated Paneth cells per 20 × field and Ki67⁺ cells per crypt were quantified. All values are means ± SD. Statistical analyses were performed by two-way ANOVA (A) or one-way ANOVA (B) with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. ns, not significant. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ****p < 0.0001