Figure 7

Impaired apoptotic cell clearance during early involution results in failure to induce TGFβ1 signaling. A. Real-time PCR of total RNA harvested from mammary glands of WT and mertk^-/- females at 1 and 3 dpfw. Relative values were calculated for each sample using the δδCT method described in Figure 6. Mammary RNA harvested from each mouse was analyzed. Shown is the relative average value (± S.D.) (analyzed 6 times each) setting the values obtained for WT mammary glands harvested at 1 dpfw equal to 1. N = 3. Statistical significance using Student's T-test (unpaired). B. Immunohistochemical detection of phospho-Smad2 in mammary glands harvested at 3 dpfw. Arrows indicate apoptotic bodies. Representative images are shown, N = 3.