Journal: bioRxiv

Article Title: Epithelial function of the circadian clock gene, Bmal1 , in regulating the mucosa

doi: 10.64898/2026.04.15.718752

Figure Lengend Snippet: ( a )Representative images of Epi Ctrl and Epi ΔBmal1 distal colon stained for UEA-1 (violet) and MALII (yellow) to label fucosylated and sialylated mucins, respectively. Shown are samples collected at ZT0 and ZT12, arrowheads indicate mucus thickness. (Scale bar = 20μm). ( b ) UEA-1+ mucus thickness in the distal colon is significantly higher at ZT12 in Epi Ctrl but lower at both times in Epi ΔBmal1 (**p≤0.01). ( c ) MALII+ mucus thickness in the distal colon is significantly higher at ZT12 in Epi Ctrl (*p≤ 0.05), with a significant increase of thickness in Epi ΔBmal1 at ZT0 (*p<0.05). Note, that Epi ΔBmal1 does not show a time-of-day dependent change in MALII. ( d ) UEA-1+ goblet cell area in distal colon crypts s significantly higher at ZT12 in Epi Ctrl (**p≤0.05). While not significantly different from controls, Epi ΔBmal1 do not show this time-of-day change in UEA-1+ mucus thickness. ( e ) MALII+ goblet cell area in distal colon crypts is significantly increased in Epi ΔBmal1 at ZT0 (*p≤0.05).

Article Snippet: Sections were incubated with biotinylated MAL-II (B-1265-1, Vector Laboratories; 3μg/mL in 1%BSA in PBS) overnight at 4°C, washed in PBS, then incubated with UEA-1 rhodamine (RL-1062-2, Vector Laboratories; 2μg/mL) and streptavidin-FITC (405201, BioLegend; 5μg/mL) in 1% BSA in PBS for 1 hr at room temperature in the dark.

Techniques: Staining