Cell proliferation is significantly increased from endothelial lineage loss of VGLL4 valves.

(A) Schematic view of recombined Vgll4 allele and experimental strategy were used to create valves composed of VGLL4 semi-knockout (RFP-) and VGLL4 total knockout (RFP+) VIC populations. (B) Immunoflorecence analyses of RFP positive proliferating cells on P10 heart arterial valves from Tie2Cre+;Vgll4fl/-;RosafsRFP/+ (n = 5) and Tie2Cre+;Vgll4fl/+;RosafsRFP/+ controls (n = 5). DAPI is in blue, EdU is in green, VE-cad is in gray. (C) Quantification of the percentage from RFP-,EdU+ and RFP+,EdU+ cells per aortic or pulmonary valve. (D) Immunoflorecence analyses of RFP positive proliferating cells on P10 heart arterial valves from WntCre+;Vgll4fl/-;RosafsRFP/+ (n = 5) and WntCre+;Vgll4fl/+;RosafsRFP/+ (n = 5) controls. DAPI is in blue, EdU is in green, VE-cad is in gray. (E) Quantification of the percentage from RFP-,EdU+ and RFP+,EdU+ cells per aortic or pulmonary valve. AoV: aortic valve; PV: pulmonary valve. White arrows point proliferating endothelial lineage cells. Scale Bar = 100μm.***P<0.005, ns: no significance.