Live Imaging at the Onset of Cortical Neurogenesis Reveals Differential Appearance of the Neuronal Phenotype in Apical versus Basal Progenitor Progeny
Figure 1
Intrinsic GFP fluorescence in the central nervous system of Tubb3-mGFP mouse embryos.
(A–F) Whole-mount images of unfixed Tubb3-mGFP embryos at E9.5 (A), E10.5 (B), E11.5 (C) and E12.5 (D–F; E, dorsal view; F, ventral view). Background has been darkened electronically. Scale bars, 500 µm. (G–K) Confocal scanning photomicrographs (1-µm single optical sections) of 12 µm-thick cryosections through the E11.5 dorsal telencephalon (G, J), midbrain (H), hindbrain (I) and E12.5 retina (K) of Tubb3-mGFP mice. Green, intrinsic Tubb3-mGFP fluorescence; blue, Hoechst staining of nuclei. Note the thicker preplate (PP) and neuronal layers (NL) in the hindbrain than midbrain and telencephalon; VZ, ventricular zone. Ventricular (apical) surface is down (dashed lines). The arrow indicates a Tubb3-mGFP expressing cell (i.e., a neuron) whose soma is close to the ventricular surface; arrowheads indicate neuronal processes. Scale bars: G–I, 20 µm; J, K 10 µm.