mortality/aging
• viable homozygous null embryos were found up to E10.5 but never thereafter
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cardiovascular system
• caliber irregularities and patterning defects in the intersomitic aortic branches
• absence of an organized vascular tree in the yolk sac at E10.5
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• homozygous null embryos inconsistently show distended pericardial sacs and exhibit correct heart looping
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embryo
• some regions of the mesoderm surrounding the neuroepithelium contained cells with pyknotic nuclei or extensive blebbing, indicating apoptosis
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• E10.5 homozygous null embryos develop a body axis that extends well beyond the hindlimb bud but remains thin caudal to the fore limb bud
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• from E9.5, homozygous null embryos were smaller and moderately shorter than wildtype
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• the strictly radial orientation of the neuroepithelial cells of the neural tube is severely disturbed and numerous cells emigrate into the surrounding mesoderm
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• from E8.5 on, observed neural tube kinking
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• intersomitic sulci are less prominent than in wildtype
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• somites featured a shallow, less regular external contour bulging beneath the surface ectoderm, sometimes appearing collapsed
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• somites were smaller than in wildtype
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• homozygous null embryos fail to develop an organized vascular system in the yolk sac, exhibiting only isolated blood forming islands and short Y-shaped vascular profiles and the absence of an organized vascular tree at E10.5
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growth/size/body
• from E9.5, homozygous null embryos were smaller and moderately shorter than wildtype
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muscle
• less well organized dermatomyotome
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nervous system
• cells with pyknotic nuclei and extensive surface blebbing, indicative of apoptosis, are found in regions of the neuroepithelium
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• the strictly radial orientation of the neuroepithelial cells of the neural tube is severely disturbed and numerous cells emigrate into the surrounding mesoderm
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• from E8.5 on, observed neural tube kinking
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• from E9.5 on, the growth of the telencephalon anlage is visibly retarded, evidenced by either absent or hypoplastic hemispheric vesicles
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skeleton
• homozygous null embryos exhibit a high proportion of apoptotic cells in the sclerotome
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cellular
• cells with pyknotic nuclei and extensive surface blebbing, indicative of apoptosis, are found in regions of the neuroepithelium
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