title: All-trans retinoic acid-induced ectopic limb and caudal structures: murine strain sensitivities and pathogenesis.
abstract: Treatment of pregnant mice at the egg cylinder stage with retinoic acid (RA) has caused ectopic hindlimbs in the offspring. Proposed causes of ectopic hindlimbs include homeotic transformation or multiple axis formation. Two mouse strains were determined to be divergent in susceptibility to this malformation (C57BL/6N, highly sensitive; SWV/Fnn, less sensitive). Ectopic limbs were hindlimbs (expressing Pitx1 and Tbx4 but not Tbx5), yet they also expressed the predominantly forelimb Hoxb8. Ectopic body axis formation was indicated by gene expression for ectopic primitive streaks, notochords, and nodes, as well as inhibition of anterior visceral endoderm and mesodermal migration. The earlier in development that embryos were examined, the higher the rate of ectopic hindlimb development and axis formation. Ectopic axis formation and cell migration inhibition had the same strain susceptibility as the dysmorphogenesis. We propose that all extra hindlimbs were derived from ectopic axis formation, perturbation of which is genetic background dependent.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Collins
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning; D002465:Cell Movement; D004707:Endoderm / Q000378:metabolism; D005121:Extremities / Q000196:embryology*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008648:Mesoderm / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008954:Models, Biological; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013997:Time Factors; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014212:Tretinoin