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Fig. 5. Altered branching of allantoic vessels, and similar endothelial and
trophoblast marker expression in Cdx mutant and control embryos.
(A,B) Morphometric analysis of embryonic placental vessels reveals more
vessels with smaller average diameter in wild-type placentas than in mutant
placentas. (C,D) Immunohistochemical staining for Pecam marks
endothelial cells (in brown) in the developing labyrinth. At E9.5, wild-type
embryonic vessels have penetrated the chorionic ectoderm and branched
extensively (arrowheads in C) while
Cdx2+/-/Cdx4-/0 mutant endothelial cells can
only be detected on one side of the chorionic plate (arrowhead in D).
(E,F) A well-established labyrinth is present at E10.5 in wild types
(la in E), whereas in Cdx2+/-/Cdx4-/0 mutant
placentas, embryonic vessels are present only in the allantoic mesoderm (F).
(G-N) Expression of trophoblast markers at E9.5 in
Cdx2+/-/Cdx4-/0 compound mutant placentas and
controls. (G,H) In situ hybridization of Cdx2 shows expression
in the ectoplacental cone and spongiotrophoblast. Expression is absent in the
labyrinthine trophoblasts in both mutants and controls. (I,J) In situ
hybridization of Mash2 shows expression in the ectoplacental cone,
spongiotrophoblasts and labyrinthine trophoblasts. The morphology of the
labyrinthine trophoblast differs between mutant and control, owing to the
absence of an extensively intermingled labyrinth in the compound mutant.
(K,L) In situ hybridization of Hand1 (eHAND) shows
expression in the spongiotrophoblast and labyrinthine trophoblasts in
wild-type and compound mutant placentas. (M,N) The ectoplacental cone
and spongiotrophoblast marker Tpbp is expressed in wild-type and
Cdx2+/-/Cdx4-/0 compound mutant placentas. epc,
ectoplacental cone; sp, spongiotrophoblasts; tr, labyrinthine trophoblasts;
cp, chorionic plate; la, placental labyrinth; mbs, maternal blood sinus; fbv,
fetal blood vessel; Cdx mutant,
Cdx2+/-/Cdx4-/0. Scale bars: 100 µm C-F; 500
µm in G-N.