Fig. 7

Neural crest and autonomic nerve markers surrounding the pulmonary vein and dorsal mesocardial protrusion in mouse and human at mid-cardiogenesis. A–D Mouse sections at E12.5. A’–D’ Human sections at 8 WGA. A, A’ Clusters of neural crest (-derived) cells (Wnt1Cre-GFP+ in mice and HNK-1+ in humans) surround the orifice of the pulmonary vein (PV), forming part of the intrinsic cardiac ganglia (red/black arrowheads). Note the vagal nerves surrounding the oesophagus (red arrow in A and black arrow in A’). B, B’ The ganglia stain positive for TUBB3 (red arrowheads). Nerve stainings are depicted separately in Supplemental Fig. 2. In mice (B) most ganglion cells still only express TUBB3 (yellow), although a few ganglion cells co-express ChAT (magenta) and even fewer TH (cyan). Vagal nerves are indicated by the red arrows. In humans (B’), the nerves remain undifferentiated (only TUBB3 expression). C, C’ Neural crest (-derived) cells at the dorsal mesenchymal protrusion between the PV clusters and the area of the developing atrioventricular (AV)-node (red arrow). D, D’ In the same area, small TUBB3+ nerves are present in both species, staining negative for TH and ChAT (red arrowheads). Nerve stainings are depicted separately in Supplemental Fig. 2. Scalebars: 50 μm. Br: pulmonary bronchus; CS: coronary sinus; LA/RA: left/right atrium; Oe: Oesophagus; PV: pulmonary vein