BACKGROUND Maffucci syndrome is a congenital, non-hereditary mesodermal dysplasia characterized by multiple enchondromas and hemangiomas. The presence of visceral vascular lesions in this syndrome is exceedingly rare. CASE PRESENTATION We report a 26-year-old female who was diagnosed with Maffucci syndrome along with sclerosing angiomatoid nodular transformation (SANT) of the spleen. The pati...

BACKGROUND Bone morphogenetic proteins (Bmps) are required for the specification of ventrolateral cell fates during embryonic dorsoventral patterning and for proper convergence and extension gastrulation movements, but the mechanisms underlying the latter role remained elusive. RESULTS Via bead implantations, we show that the Bmp gradient determines the direction of lateral mesodermal cell mi...

Alpha5beta1 integrin is a cell surface receptor that mediates cell-extracellular matrix adhesions by interacting with fibronectin. Alpha5 subunit-deficient mice die early in gestation and display mesodermal defects; most notably, embryos have a truncated posterior and fail to produce posterior somites. In this study, we report on the in vivo effects of the alpha5-null mutation on cell prolifera...

Hairy polyp is an unusual, rare benign developmental malformation of neonates and infants. Embryologically, they are lesions containing both ectodermal mesodermal origin. Based on size, location the lesion, can produce symptoms such as feeding difficulties, airway obstructions, apneic episodes. We present a case hairy at Oro/Nasopharynx causing difficulties immediately after birth. explained mo...

α5β1 integrin is a cell surface receptor that mediates cellextracellular matrix adhesions by interacting with fibronectin. α5 subunit-deficient mice die early in gestation and display mesodermal defects; most notably, embryos have a truncated posterior and fail to produce posterior somites. In this study, we report on the in vivo effects of the α5-null mutation on cell proliferation and surviva...

Convergent extension, the simultaneous narrowing and lengthening of a tissue, plays a major role in shaping and patterning the neural ectoderm in vertebrate embryos. In this paper, we characterize the cellular mechanism underlying convergent extension of the neural ectoderm in the Xenopus laevis late gastrula and neurula embryo. Neural ectoderm in X. laevis consists of two components, a superfi...

Well before the somites form, the paraxial mesoderm of vertebrate embryos is segmented into somitomeres. When newly formed, somitomeres are patterned arrays of mesenchymal cells, arranged into squat, bilaminar discs. The dorsal and ventral faces of these discs are composed of concentric rings of cells. Somitomeres are formed along the length of the embryo during gastrulation, and in the segment...