Analysis Tools
mortality/aging
embryo
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• ~32% of cultured homozygous mutant embryos harvested at E3.5 do not hatch until between 2 and 3.5 days in culture
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• although homozygous mutant embryos harvested at E3.5 and cultured in vitro appear morphologically normal through the blastocyst stage, ~45% fail to hatch from the zona pellucida
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cellular
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• after 3.5 d in culture, the ~45% of homozygous embryos harvested at E3.5 that fail to hatch comprise a decompacted, loosely adherent aggregate of rounded cells within the zona pellucida
• after 3.5 d in culture, the ~32% of homozygous embryos harvested at E3.5 that hatched late have adhered to the substrate, but their ICM are small and disorganized, composed of loosely adherent cells, and their trophoblast cells exhibit elongated extensions
• ~23% of cultured homozygous mutant embryos harvested at E3.5 hatch normally and adhere to the substrate by day 2, but at day 3.5 of culture, small degenerating clumps of ICM cells remain associated with the zona pellucida and trophoblast cells exhibit elongated extensions
• outgrowths of hatched homozygous mutant blastocysts harvested at E3.5 and cultured in vitro for 3.5 d exhibit cellular degeneration and disruption of intercellular adhesion, in association with dispersal of the normally plasma membrane-localized junction proteins E-cadherin and beta-catenin
• homozygous mutant embryos harvested at E3.5 and cultured in vitro appear morphologically normal through the blastocyst stage; this may be attributed to the persistence of maternal protein
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reproductive system
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• although homozygous mutant embryos are able to elicit a decidual response, by 6 days post coitum (dpc) their decidua contain no embryonic or extraembryonic tissue
• empty decidua are observed in the expected Mendelian proportion (~25%) for homozygous null mutants from crosses of mice heterozygous for both Cre and the floxed/null allele, as are homozygous null embryos recovered at E3.5
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