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Fig. 1. Both male and female Pod1 KO mice have abnormal reproductive
tracts. (A-F) Urogenital tracts of 18.5 dpc mice: (A,C,D) XY; (B,E,F) XX. In
wild-type XY embryos, the testes (t) are rounded and have descended to the
level of the bladder (b). In Pod1 KO XY embryos, the gonads are much
smaller than controls and are adjacent to the kidneys (A). The gonads in
Pod1 KO mice are irregular in shape with an uneven surface (D). In
addition, the reproductive duct (green arrowheads) in the XY mutant has not
developed into a normal epididymis (e), compared with in the wild-type mouse
(C), and the internal genitalia rather resemble those of wild-type and
Pod1 KO females. The ovaries (ov) in a wild-type embryo at 18.5 dpc
have descended to just below the kidney (B). In XX Pod1 KO mice, the
right gonad is sometimes observed in this location, but the left gonad never
descends properly (B). Pod1 KO ovaries (F) are similar in size to the
wild-type structures (E), but are irregularly shaped and display a morphology
similar to the Pod1 KO testes. Of note, kidneys and bladders in both
XY and XX Pod1 KO mice are also greatly reduced in size relative to
controls. t, testis; ov, ovary; a, adrenal gland; k, kidney; b, bladder; e,
epididymis. Semi-thin sections demonstrate that the wild-type testis at 18.5
dpc (G) exhibits well-organized testicular cords with Sertoli cells (sc)
surrounding germ cells (g), peritubular myoid cells (pm), and extensive
interstitial tissue, including Leydig cells (le) and vessels. The
Pod1 KO testis (H) appears to have degenerated with a number of
apoptotic cells (arrows, in H). At 18.5 dpc, most germ cells from control
ovaries are in meiotic prophase (g, in I), but in the mutant XX gonad, they
still appear as primordial germ cells similar to those in the testes (g in J).
TUNEL labeling is shown in XY (K,L) and XX (M,N) gonads from 16.5 dpc embryos.
In control gonads (K,M), no apoptotic cells are found in the sections, but in
the gonads of Pod1 XY (L) and XX (N) mutants, a marked increase in the number
of apoptotic cells (arrows) is observed.
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