Fig. 7. Microvascular endothelial cells turn on ß4 expression during postnatal development. The progression of endothelial ß4 expression was examined during postnatal development of the whisker pad. Neighboring sections were immunostained with s100 (A-F: green) and either MEC 13.3 to PECAM-1 (A,C,E: red) or with 346-11A to ß4 (B,D,F: red). Caudal regions from P0 embryos (A,B) and P3 embryos (C,D), and rostral region from P7 embryos (E,F) are shown. Arrowheads indicate examples of vessels that express ß4 (A-F). At P0, only vessels in the most caudal and deep regions of the whisker pad showed expression of ß4. By P3, the same regions show more vascular ß4 expression. By P7, ß4 expression is observed throughout the vasculature of the whisker pad, as shown on the rostral-most whisker follicles. Dotted ovals indicate examples of regions where vessels do not express ß4. Scale bars: 100 µm.

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