Molecular basis of cleft palates in mice

Figure 1 Palatogenesis in mice. Hematoxylin and eosin staining of coronal sections of the head of a wild-type mouse at embryonic day (E) 12.5 (A), E13.5 (B), and E14.5 (C, D). A: Mouse palatal shelves (p) develop from the maxillary prominences; B: By E13.5, the palatal shelves grow downward on each side of the tongue (t); C and D: At E14.5, the palatal shelves face each other along the midline above the tongue and fuse, separating the oral cavity (oc) from the nasal cavity (nc). The arrow in (D) indicates the medial edge epithelial (MEE) cells that constitute the midline epithelial seam. All animal experimental procedures were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Tokyo Medical and Dental University. mes: Mesenchyme; epi: Epithelium.