Figure 1

Congenital anomalies in Tagln-Cre:Tgfbr2 ^flx/flx. (a–d) comparison between the ventral body wall of mutant and WT littermates at E14.5 using micro-CT volume rendering and organ segmentation. In the mutant the ventral structures are covered by a thin sac and the umbilical cord (arrow in a) is situated at the centre of the exomphalos. The heart (segmented in gold) is seen herniating ventrally on the lateral view and the lateral body wall components (arrowheads in b) fail to progress towards the midline. The WT littermate show complete closure of the thoracic ventral body wall and only a small physiological umbilical hernia (arrow in c) is seen at this developmental stage. (e–h) Cardiac and outflow tract anomalies. Ventricular septal defect (arrow in e) is visible in the mutant embryos, while the WT shows complete ventricular septal closure (arrow in g). Dilatation of the right ventricle (RV) and outflow tract (asterisk) compared to the WT littermates (f and h respectively). The liver herniates into the chest in the mutant (arrow in f). (i–l) dorsal body wall and palate closure in Tagln-Cre:Tgfbr2 ^flx/flx are comparable to WT littermates. An arrow in (j and l) indicates the anterior part of the palate. The contrast material is seen filling the cardiac chambers and outflow tract in (e–h). LV: left ventricle, RV: right ventricle. Scale bars 1,000 µm.