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Figure 7. Prechordal plate and cartilage defects in Gsc morphant Xenopus tadpoles.(A–E) Prechordal plate defects. (A–C) Close-set eyes in Gsc morphants. Distance between left and right eye (red lines) was reduced in morphants. Arithmetic mean of control specimens was set to 1.0 in (C). Note that this phenotype was rescued by co-injection of a mouse Gsc cDNA construct. (D,E) Shh mRNA expression in control (D) and high dose Gsc morphant (E). Note that the prechordal plate (arrowheads) was severely reduced in morphants. (F–I) Cartilage phenotypes in Gsc morphant frog tadpoles. Cartilage was stained with alcian blue in wt (F,H) or Gsc morphant (G,I) tadpoles at stage 45. Shape of cartilage cells of was analyzed in frontal sections of embryos (F,G). (H,I) Cells were outlined with ImageJ and aspect ratios were calculated and visualized. Cell shapes are indicated by a color gradient from yellow to red, with round cells depicted in light yellow and elongated bipolar cells in deep red. Note that the majority of cartilage cells in Gsc morphants had lost their bipolar appearance. |
