Persistent expression of Pax3 in the neural crest causes cleft palate and defective osteogenesis in mice
J. Clin. Invest. Meilin Wu, et al. 118:2076 doi:10.1172/JCI33715 [Go to this article.]

Figure 4
Endogenous and persistent Pax3 is expressed in the palate. Frontal sections through the palatal region of E12.5 (A and D), E13.5 (B and E), and P0 (C and F) embryos are shown. Endogenous Pax3 is expressed in Pax3^+/+, R26^Pax3/Pax3 embryos in the palatal shelves at E12.5 (A) and E13.5 (B) along the inner surface (arrows) as well as in the tongue (*) and mandible. At birth, Pax3 expression in the palate has abated in control embryos (F). Pax3^Cre/+, R26^Pax3/Pax3 mice have much higher levels of Pax3 in the palate (arrows) and tongue (*) compared with control at both E12.5 (D) and E13.5 (E), with expression expanded to the entire palate mesenchyme, tongue, and developing mandible but not the epithelium. (F) At P0, Pax3 expression persists in the unfused palatal shelves (arrows) as well as in the tongue. Original magnification, ×6.3.