Thyroid Tcf3 and E-cadherin exression

Abstract

Stem cells are able to form new stem cells through self renewal and are also capable to form lineage committed cells through differentiation. To balance self renewal and differentiation, expression of Nanog, Oct4 and Sox2 is tightly regulated. Tcf3 is essential to limit the steady state levels of Nanog mRNA. However, it is unknown whether Tcf3 is require in adult animal through a conditional knock out approach and examine the effects of its absence on different tissues. Fluorescent imaging of Tcf3(green), E-cadherin(red-stain epithelial cell) and DAPI (blue-stain nucleus) on wild type adult thyroid gland enable to clearly define Tcf3 expression and localization in the follicle cells within the thyroid gland.