First branchial arch syndrome is a congenital disorder characterized by a wide spectrum of anomalies in the first branchial arch, mainly affecting the lower jaw, ear, or mouth, during early embryonic development. We sought to confirm a suspected case of this syndrome by making differential diagnosis and taking an intensive clinical approach. A 12-year-6-month-old girl with a horizontally impact...

The patterns of blood flow through the complex circulation of the tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum, were investigated during aquatic normoxia and hypoxia by application of the microsphere technique. The distribution of differently labelled microspheres injected into the bloodstream towards the left and right atria, respectively, was used to evaluate the role of the ductus arteriosus in lung...

Myogenic populations of the avian head arise within both epithelial (somitic) and mesenchymal (unsegmented) mesodermal populations. The former, which gives rise to neck, tongue, laryngeal, and diaphragmatic muscles, show many similarities to trunk axial, body wall, and appendicular muscles. However, muscle progenitors originating within unsegmented head mesoderm exhibit several distinct feature...

Dlx transcription factors are implicated in patterning the mammalian jaw, based on their nested expression patterns in the first branchial arch (primordium for jaw) and mutant phenotypes; inactivation of Dlx1 and Dlx2 (Dlx1/2-/-) causes defects in the upper jaw, whereas Dlx5/6(-/-) results in homeotic transformation of the lower jaw into upper jaw. Therefore, the 'Dlx codes' appear to regionali...

Bilateral, asymmetric anomalies of the anterior bellies of digastric muscles were observed during dissection of the submental region. Specifically, four extra muscle bundles were found between the anterior bellies of the digastric muscle. Although anomalies of the anterior bellies of digastric muscles are often observed, this complicated pattern of digastric anomalies has not been previously re...

LIM-homeobox containing (Lhx) genes encode trascriptional regulators which play critical roles in a variety of developmental processes. We have identified two genes belonging to a novel subfamily of mammalian Lhx genes, designated Lhx6 and Lhx7. Whole-mount in situ hybridisation showed that Lhx6 and Lhx7 were expressed during mouse embryogenesis in overlapping domains of the first branchial arc...

Introduction Acute suppurative neck infections associated with third or fourth branchial arch fistulas are frequently recurrent. Third and fourth branchial arch anomalies are much less common and usually present with recurrent left thyroid lobe abscesses. Objectives The authors present their experience in treating such cases that were observed exclusively in children. Methods The study involved...

Branchial cleft anomalies are developmental disorders of the neck. The aim of this study was to evaluate the data of our patients, who have been diagnosed and treated for second branchial abnormalities in the last six years. We report our clinical experience in second branchial anomalies with a review of the literature. Our study is a retrospective one on a number of 23 patients hospitalized wi...

Hoxa2 is required for a variety of developmental processes in the branchial arches and in the hindbrain. We have created a Hoxa2 allele that is about 45% as active in transcription as its wild-type counterpart. This allele, together with the Hoxa2 null and wild-type alleles, allowed the generation of embryos developing in the presence of different levels of Hoxa2 activity. Analysis of these emb...