Fig. 4

Through exosome secretion, DETCs remotely regulated the proliferation of EpSCs. A–B EpSCs were isolated from neonatal WT mice and cultured to passage 2–4 before analysis. EpSCs were cocultured with DETCs or pretreated DETCs (with GW4869) in a noncontact Transwell coculture system for three days. The proportions of CD49f^briCD71^dim cells (A) and K15⁺ cells (B) were detected by FACS after 3 days of coculture. C EpSCs were isolated from neonatal WT mice and cultured for three days before labeling with CFSE. CFSE-labeled EpSCs were cocultured with DETCs or pretreated DETCs (with GW4869) in a noncontact Transwell coculture system for three days. The proportion of CFSE^low cells was detected by FACS. D–F EpSCs were isolated from neonatal WT mice and cultured for three days before further analysis. EpSCs were cultured for three days with DETCs-derived exosomes (0 μg/mL, 5 μg/mL, 15 μg/mL, and 45 μg/mL). The proportions of CD49f^briCD71^dim cells (D) and K15⁺ cells (E) were detected by FACS. F EpSCs were isolated from neonatal mice and cultured for three days before labeling with CFSE. CFSE-labeled EpSCs were cultured for three days with DETCs-derived exosomes (0 μg/mL, 5 μg/mL, 15 μg/mL, and 45 μg/mL). The proportion of CFSE^low cells was detected by FACS. All data are representative of at least three independent experiments and represent mean ± SD of indicated number of mice per group. The p value was calculated by one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s multiple comparison test (A–F) (^nsp > 0.05, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001)