Fig. 1
Increased incidence of NTD in Armc5 KO mice. A Armc5 expression in the neural tube of an e10 WT C57BL/6 fetus according to X-ray autoradiography of in situ hybridization. NT: rostral neural tube; Met: metencephalon; Mes: mesencephalon; Di: diencephalon; Tel: telencephalon. S: sense. B Armc5 expression in the e8.5, e9.5, and e10.5 neural tubes and adjacent tissues in WT embryos according to RT-qPCR. The means ± SD of signal ratios of Armc5 versus β-actin based on 4 independent biological samples are shown. C ARMC5 was detected in both cytosol and nuclei. ARMC5-HA-expressing plasmid-transfected SK-N-SH neuronal cells were fixed 48 h after transfection. The presence of ARMC5 in the nuclei and cytosol was determined by immunofluorescence. Representative micrographs from three independent experiments are shown. ARMC5-HA: pseudo-red; nucleus staining by DAPI: pseudo-blue. D A KO mouse with a kinky tail (arrows: kinks in the tail). E Skeletons of WT and KO mice according to micro-CT scan. Arrow: the curled tail in a KO mouse. F Increased incidence of KO mice with kinky tails on the day of weaning (3 weeks old). The numbers of male, female, and total mice examined are indicated. G An e12.5 KO fetus with exencephaly. H Increased incidence of exencephaly in e9.5 to e13.5 KO fetuses. The number of KO and WT fetuses examined on e9.5 to e13.5 is indicated. I A summary of the incidence of NTD in e9.5 − e13.5 fetuses and 3-week-old WT and KO animals. The percentages of NTD among total e9.5 − e13.5 KO and WT fetuses and the percentages of NTD among 3-week-old KO and WT pups are shown. E9.5–13.5 fetuses with exencephaly are in blue, and live pups with kinky tails at 3 weeks are in green. Fetuses/mice in yellow are those who died between e9.5 and e13.5 and weaning at 3 weeks. **: p < 0.01; ***: p < 0.001 (χ2 test)