Figure 3
Characterization of hepatocyte-specific Dsg2 and Dsc2 KO mouse models. (a) On the left: scheme of applied Dsg2 (Dsg2fl/fl; Alb-Cretg) and Dsc2 (Dsc2fl/fl ; Alb-Cretg) knockout (KO) mouse liver samples. Dsg2fl/fl or Dsc2fl/fl mice, respectively, served as control. Striped bars indicate Dsg2 KO, squared bars Dsc2 KO. On the right: confirmation of respective mRNA depletion by qPCR analysis. Values were normalized to Gapdh house keeper gene. n = 4 mice, two-tailed unpaired t test. (b) Representative Western blot images and (c) corresponding band intensity analysis of the junctional components E-cadherin (E-Cad), plakoglobin (Pg), desmoglein-1/2 (Dsg1/2), desmocollin-2/3 (Dsc2/3), β-catenin (β-Cat), desmoplakin (Dp), N-cadherin (N-Cad) and plakophilin-2 (Pkp2) in Dsg2 and Dsc2 KO mouse liver samples. Gapdh served as loading control. n = 4 mice, Dsg2 KO liver vs. control liver: Dsg1/2: two-tailed unpaired t test with Welch’s correction, all other: two-tailed unpaired t test. Dsc2 KO liver vs. control liver: Dsc2/3, β-Cat and N-Cad: two-tailed unpaired t test, all other: two-tailed unpaired t test with Welch’s correction. (d) Body and liver weight of Dsg2 KO and Dsc2 KO mice compared to the corresponding control mice. n = 4 mice, two-tailed unpaired t test.
