Fig. 5. Introduction of exogenous Cath5 suppresses the inhibitory effect of Wnt2b on the differentiation of retinal ganglion cells. Expression pattern of neurofilament (A-D) and islet1 (E-H) in the retina electroporated with plasmids expressing control (A,E), Cath5 (B,F), Wnt2b (C,G), and Cath5 and Wnt2b (D,H). The marker expressions are shown in purple, and co-electroporated GFP signals, in green. Arrowheads indicate the cells expressing co-electroporated GFP and the retinal ganglion cell markers. (I) The number of islet1-expressing cells per retina (n=4). The cells were counted on serial sections of the retina electroporated with each construct as indicated. Note that the exogenous expression of Cath5 increased the number of islet1-positive cells (B,F,I), whereas no islet1-positive cells were observed in the Wnt2b-expressing retina (C,G,I). When Cath5 was introduced together with Wnt2b, inhibition of the ganglion cell differentiation by Wnt2b was suppressed (D,H,I). Scale bar: 30 µm.