Fig. 1

Mice lacking GATA4 in NCC-derived tissue exhibit craniofacial and cardiac defects. a Localization of GATA4 expression during mouse development at embryonic day 14.5 (E14.5) and at postnatal day 1 (P1) and P14 (scale bar: 50 μm). Brown staining corresponds to anti-GATA4 immunoreactivity. b Photographic analysis of 3-week-old Wnt1-cre;Gata4^fl/fl (Mutant) mice and Gata4^fl/fl (WT) mice (n = 5). (c, Upper) Wnt1-cre;Gata4^fl/fl and Gata4^fl/fl P1 skulls stained with Alizarin red and Alcian blue. (c, Middle) Magnification of the calvaria with widened cranial frontal sutures in mutant mice. (c, Lower) Sagittal view shows the mandibular retrognathism of the mutant mice. Scale bar, 500 μm. d, e Quantitative analysis of the length of the mandible (n = 5). f Three-dimensional micro-CT image of the mandible and teeth at P21. Mutant mice displayed a drastic decrease in mineralization and short root abnormalities. Yellow arrow indicates the decreased mineralization area. Scale bar, 500 μm. g Three-dimensional micro-CT image of the skull (Left) and palate bone (Right) at P21. The right pictures of each group show the thickness of the frontal bone and palate bone. h Mandible tissue stains of von Kossa, total collagen, and Collagen I at P1; scale bars: 100, 200, and 100 μm, respectively. i–k Quantitative analysis of the positive area (the whole image section was analyzed for the mineralization area quantification) of von Kossa, total collagen, and Collagen I staining, respectively (n = 5). l Sagittal and coronal view of the heart in mutant mice showed VSD and enlarged hearts; scale bar: 200 μm. The data are presented as the mean ± S.E.M. from at least three independent experiments. **P < 0.01. cdp condylar process, CT computed tomography, la labial, li lingual, NCC neural crest cell, VSD ventricular septal defect