3.8. LGR5-positive crypt epithelial cells in the small intestine of
PEDV-inoculated nursing piglets vs. weaned pigs
No LGR5-positive cells were detected in uninoculated nursing
pigs tested at PIDs 1–5 (Fig. 7A and E). In frozen jejunal tissues of the inoculated nursing pigs at PIDs 3 and 5, but not PID 1, moderate
to large numbers of LGR5-positive crypt cells were detected in the
small intestine (Fig. 7B and E). Under our IHC conditions tested,
LGR5 protein was detected on the apical surface or in the
cytoplasm of intestinal crypt epithelial cells (Fig. 7B–D). On the
other hand, regardless of infection status, weaned pigs exhibited
moderate to large numbers of LGR5-positive cells in the crypts of
the small intestine at PIDs 1–5 (Fig. 7C–E), which coincided with
high Ki67-positve scores at these time-points (Fig. 6E).