Characterization of Primary Cilia Formation in Human ESC-Derived Retinal Organoids

Figure 1

Primary cilia are expressed in the inner part of hESC-derived retinal organoids and their numbers decrease in later developmental stages. (a) Confocal images of retinal organoid sections from different developmental stages immunostained with two primary ciliary markers, Arl13b (green) and Centrin3 (gray) to reveal ciliary axoneme and basal body, respectively, (scale bar: 10 μm; magnified, 1 μm). Nuclei are visualized by DAPI (blue). (b) Quantitative analyses reveals that the ciliation (the number of cells expressing primary cilia) of retinal organoids is at its peak at day 90 and significantly declines at day 196 and day 266 ( and , One-way ANOVA). (c) Quantification of the percentage of ciliated retinal cells distributed in the outer and inner sides of retinal organoids. (Day 44: ; day 66: ; day 90: ; day 106: ; day 148: ; day 176: ; day 196: ; and day 266: ; unpaired -test).

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