Premium
High incidence of distal vaginal atresia in mice lacking Tyro3 RTK subfamily
Author(s) -
Wu Hui,
Tang Hongmei,
Chen Yongmei,
Wang Haikun,
Han Daishu
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
molecular reproduction and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.745
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1098-2795
pISSN - 1040-452X
DOI - 10.1002/mrd.20917
Subject(s) - biology , atresia , placentation , cancer research , anatomy , pregnancy , genetics , placenta , fetus
Vaginal atresia is a congenital abnormality of the female genitourinary system, and the specific molecular mechanism leading to failure of vaginal development remains to be elucidated. Here, we report that the female mice lacking Tyro3 RTK subfamily (Tyro3, Axl, and Mer) exhibit a high incidence of distal vaginal atresia. The ratios of the vaginal atresia in Tyro3 RTKs mutant female mice are as follows: 2.5% for Mer −/− mice, 4.0% for Axl −/− Mer −/− , 3.7% for Mer −/− Tyro3 −/− , 16.06% for Tyro −/− Axl −/− Mer −/− mice. We did not find the vaginal atresia in Axl −/− , Tyro3 −/− , Axl −/− Tyro −/− , and wild‐type mice. These observations suggest that Tyro3 RTKs play roles collaboratively in vaginal development, and Mer is more critical, Axl and Tyro3 support the function of Mer. The phenotype of mice with the vaginal atresia was characterized in this study. Tyro3 RTKs mutant mouse could be a useful model to study the mechanism of vaginal atresia formation. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 75: 1775–1782, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.