Journal: Communications Biology
Article Title: Smooth muscle cell Piezo1 depletion results in impaired contractile properties in murine small bowel
doi: 10.1038/s42003-025-07697-6
Figure Lengend Snippet: Efficient Tam-induced translocation of Cre-ER into the nucleus was confirmed in distal small bowel segments taken from 7-9 week-old mice following Tam administration at 4-6 weeks old, with all assessments performed age-matched in both groups. A Myh11-Cre expression in the distal small bowel segment from Piezo1 WT mice with membrane-associated Tdtomato fluorescence (mTmG) reporter (Piezo1 WT;mTmG ) shows exclusive Tdtomato fluorescence in membranes of all cell types across the layers of the bowel in transverse-sections of WM preparations, indicating an absence of Cre expression or leakage without Tam induction. B In contrast, similarly aged mice post-Tam treated Piezo1 WT;mTmG mice, the epithelial layer retained Tdtomato, while the cellular components of the muscularis were either Tdtomato or GFP + . Leica Confocal SP8-STED microscope with scale bars set at 10, 20, and 40 μm. C mRNA expression of Piezo1 and Piezo2 in Piezo1 ΔSMC and Piezo1 WT mice from muscularis samples isolated from the distal small intestine, proximal colon and stomach, and full-thickness samples from the bladder. qPCR was performed using the ΔΔCT method relative to Gapdh expression. Multiple t-test analyses with Welch’s correction were performed with a False Discovery Rate (FDR) set to 5% with the corrected p-values as indicated above comparison groups. Data are shown as mean ± SEM, n = 4–6 mice per group. D Frozen transverse-section of distal small bowel from Piezo1 WT (upper) and Piezo1 ΔSMC (lower) mice post-Tam, stained with anti-β-actin (yellow) and Piezo1 (Alamone Labs; red) antibodies and imaged with a Zeiss Confocal LSM880 at 40× magnification with 20 µm scale bars. The parallel dashed lines indicate the location of the muscularis (M). Beneath the bottom line is the epithelial ( E ) layer. E Body weight at various days post-Tam treatment in Piezo1 WT and Piezo1 ΔSMC mice. F Carmine-red dye was given via oral gavage, and the time to the first red stool pellet was recorded to indicate whole bowel transit time in both groups of mice at 7–9 weeks old following tamoxifen administration at 4-6 weeks old. Total number of hours capped at 8 h. G A total number of stool pellets was produced after 8 h in both groups of mice. H Daily food consumption in both groups of mice. Two-tailed t-test with Welch’s correction performed with a significance set at p < 0.05 is shown above. Data are shown as mean ± SEM, N = 6–10 mice per group.
Article Snippet: D Frozen transverse-section of distal small bowel from Piezo1 WT (upper) and Piezo1 ΔSMC (lower) mice post-Tam, stained with anti-β-actin (yellow) and Piezo1 (Alamone Labs; red) antibodies and imaged with a Zeiss Confocal LSM880 at 40× magnification with 20 μm scale bars.
Techniques: Translocation Assay, Expressing, Membrane, Fluorescence, Microscopy, Isolation, Comparison, Staining, Produced, Two Tailed Test