Fig. 1

Growth and phenotype of CD45^–/Sca-1⁺ PICs. a,b Representative light microscope images of CD45^–/Sca-1⁺ positive interstitial cells (PICs) isolated from 21-day-old mice after 6 days in culture with Promocell media (a) or growth media (b). Scale bars = 200 μm. c Cell count at initial plating (D0) and after 6 days (D6) of culture in Promocell or PIC growth media (n = 1 culture dish). d Representative light microscope image of CD45^–/Sca1⁺ PICs cultured to passage 3 (P3) in growth media. Scale bar = 200 μm. e Representative confocal micrograph of freshly isolated and cultured (P3) PICs showing expression of the pluripotency markers Sox2, Oct3/4, and Nanog. Quantification of positive cells is percentage of total cells counted. Scale bar = 50 μm. f qRT-PCR transcript analysis for PICs at P3 and mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Bars represent the mean relative expression normalised to GAPDH. Error bars represent the standard deviation of the mean; n = 3