Figure 3
Reduced cell adhesion and disorganized cytoskeleton of neural crest cell (NCC)-specific integrin-linked kinase (ILK) knockout (NKO) mutant NCCs. (A-D) In control NCCs, paxillin and parvin are expressed in a punctate pattern, associated with the focal adhesions. However, in ILK mutant NCCs, paxillin expression is diffuse, while parvin expression appears to be normal. (E,F) Adhesion and spreading of ILK mutant NCCs (ILKf/f;Cre+) on fibronectin (Fn), laminin (Lam), collagen (Col) and vitronectin (Vtn) are impaired. (G-I) Reduced Akt phosphorylation in NCCs of NKO mutant OFT. (J,K) Immunostaining with antibodies to actin and Sox10 show well-aligned actin filaments in control NCCs. However, ILKf/f;Cre+ mutant NCCs exhibit excessive small protrusions and a large accumulation of cortical actin in the cell cortex.