File:Mouse-adrenal gland E16.5.jpg

Effects of Dicer1 ablation on adrenal development in mice

A mouse model, in which the Dicer1 gene was inactivated in the progenitor cells of the adrenals and gonads (by targeting the Steroidogenic factor 1-positive cells), enables the investigation of the function of Dicer1 in the development of the adrenal. Loss of Dicer1 does not impede proper differentiation of the cortex (magenta) and adrenal (green) at 16.5 dpc (shown here), but by 18.5 dpc the adrenals of the Dicer1 conditional knockout are significantly smaller than those in the wild-type. Immunofluorescence was performed by staining for a marker for the adrenal cortex, SF1 (magenta), a marker for the medulla, tyrosine hydroxylase, TH (green) and nuclei (blue - stained with DAPI).

Original File name: 201007large.jpg http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcdevbiol/imageofthemonth/2010/07

"Dicer1 is dispensable for formation and differentiation of fetal tissues derived from the SF1-positive adrenogonadal primordium. Dicer1 is essential for maintaining cell survival in adrenal and testis; however, development of the ovary from fetal stages to postnatal day 5 does not require the presence of Dicer1. Our results reveal a tissue-specific requirement of Dicer1 and microRNAs. Future research is needed to understand how the tissue-specific role of Dicer1 is established."

Reference

<pubmed>20540774</pubmed>

© 2010 Huang and Yao; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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