Background: Transgenic mice are being considered as invaluable tool in biological sciences towards comprehension of the cause of the genetic diseases. Manipulated embryonic stem (ES) cells are used to produce loss-of-function mutant mice. Microinjection of manipulated ES cells into blastocoel cavity, and morula fusion are the two main techniques in producing transgenic mice. So...

Gastrulation in C. elegans embryos involves formation of a blastocoel and the ingression of surface cells into the blastocoel. Mutations in the par-3 gene cause abnormal separations between embryonic cells, suggesting that the PAR-3 protein has a role in blastocoel formation. In normal development, PAR proteins localize to either the apical or basal surfaces of cells prior to blastocoel formati...

The development of the blastocoel in Xenopus laevis was studied by electron microscopy. Two major morphological specializations were associated both with blastocoel formation and with cleavage. The first specialization was the formation of close junctions at specific points along cleavage furrows, starting as early as the first division. The second was the secretion of material into the blastoc...

The development of the blastocoel in Xenopus laevis was studied by electron microscopy. Two major morphological specializations were associated both with blastocoel formation and with cleavage. The first specialization was the formation of close junctions at specific points along cleavage furrows, starting as early as the first division. The second was the secretion of material into the blastoc...

The fibronectin fibril matrix on the blastocoel roof of the Xenopus gastrula contains guidance cues that determine the direction of mesoderm cell migration. The underlying guidance-related polarity of the blastocoel roof is established in the late blastula under the influence of an instructive signal from the vegetal half of the embryo, in particular from the mesoderm. Formation of an oriented ...

Experiments involving transplantation of the roof of the blastocoel in Rana pipiens embryos reveal that the inner surface of the roof of the blastocoel must be coated with a fibrous extracellular matrix (F-ECM) to serve as a substratum for mesodermal cell migration. When the roof of the blastocoel is inverted the original outer surface, now projecting toward the blastocoel, does not become coat...

Although the rate of blastocysts implantation of embryos is higher than previous stages but their survival rate is lower than them, which could be attributed to the completely filled blastocoel cavity with liquid and increased possibility of the formation of ice crystals. This liquid could prevent the penetration of cryoprotecting materials into the embryos. In this study, we reduced the volume...

Chemokines play a crucial role in developmental processes and recent studies have revealed that they also control gastrulation movements. In this paper, we report the expression patterns of xSDF-1α, xCXCR4 and xCXCR7 and regulation of the expression of xSDF-1α and xCXCR4 during gastrulation. We performed whole mount in situ hybridization (WISH) and quantitative real-time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) analys...

A main achievement of gastrulation is the movement of the endoderm and mesoderm from the surface of the embryo to the interior. Despite its fundamental importance, this internalization process is not well understood in amphibians. We show that in Xenopus, an active distortion of the vegetal cell mass, vegetal rotation, leads to a dramatic expansion of the blastocoel floor and a concomitant turn...