Figure 7

Quantitative RT-PCR of genes indicative of extracellular matrix proteins and receptors, apoptosis and Wnt signalling. A, C, E and G, Fold change of (A) extracellular matrix (ECM)-associated genes, (C) ECM receptor genes, (E) apoptosis-associated genes and (G) Wnt canonical pathway-associated genes in the developing in vitro NSC niche are compared to Day 0 mouse embryonic stem cell cultures. B, D, F and H, Fold change of (B) extracellular matrix-associated genes, (D) ECM receptor genes, (F) apoptosis-associated genes and (H) Wnt canonical pathway-associated genes in the developing in vitro NSC niche are compared to cells that have undergone 4-/4+ retinoic acid induction (Day 8). Only genes with statistically significant (p < 0.05) differences from Day 8 cultures are shown. TATA box binding protein (TBP) is used as the housekeeping gene in all experiments. Data supporting our housekeeping gene selection are provided in Additional file 6. Genes: Laminin, gamma 1 (Lamc1), Nidogen 1 (Nid1), Nidogen 2 (Nid2), Procollagen, type IV, alpha1 (Col4a1), Perlecan (Hspg2), Syndecan-3 (Sdc3), beta-1 Integrin (Itgb1), Cadherin 1 (Cdh1, E-cadherin), Cadherin 3 (Cdh3, P-cadherin), Cadherin 2 (Cdh2, N-cadherin), Cadherin 5 (Cdh5, VE-cadherin), Caspase-3 (Casp3), Transformation related protein 53 (Trp53), thymoma viral proto-oncogene 1 (Akt1), Wingless-related MMTV integration site 1 (Wnt1), Bone morphogenetic protein 4 (Bmp4), beta-1 Catenin, (Ctnnb1) and TATA box binding protein (TBP).