Vol.30 No.3 (2008 June): 333-338

Polarity Formation in Mouse Embryos

Shun-Li Yue¹, Zeng-Ming Yang^2*

(¹College of Life Science, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China; ²College of Life Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China)

Abstract Mammalian embryos have been thought to be lack of polarity until blastocyst stage because of remarkable regulative capacity. However, it was found that the polarity of mouse embryo is established much earlier than our anticipation. Mammalian embryonic development might not necessarily be so different from other species. In mammals, both regulative development and patterning development may co-exist. The polarity of mammalian embryos may be formed from both "randomness" and "predetermination". The study on embryonic polarity will be important for understanding the molecular mechanism of embryo development.

Key words mouse; embryo; polarity

Received: Noverber 28, 2007 Accepted: March 10, 2008
*Corresponding author. Tel: 86-0592-2187356, E-mail: zmyang@xmu.edu.cn