Genetically targeted ablation of Pten rescues atrioventricular septal defect.

(A-I) Histology of Gata4 transgenic mouse embryonic hearts at E14.5. Two panel images of each embryonic heart were used to show the DORV phenotypes. The panels B-H showed that the opening of AO connected to the right ventricle in the Gata4 haploinsufficency (E and H), while in control embryos the AO opened to the left ventricle (B). The lower panel C-I showed the opening of PT connecting to the right ventricle. LV, left ventricle; RV, right ventricle; ao, aorta artery; pt, pulmonary trunk. Magnification: 40X. (J-U) H3S10 expression was detected in Gata4 transgenic mouse embryos by IHC at E9.5. Red rectangle area was amplified below. Magnification for panels J, M, P and S is 100X. Magnification for panels K, N, Q and T is 200X. Magnification for panels L, O, R and U is 400X. (V) Quantification of H3S10 labelled cells. Data is expressed as ratio to Gata4^fl/+. Data is presented as Mean±SEM, **p<0.05, ***p<0.01, n = 4, compared with the Gata4^fl/+ embryos. (W) Gene expression in the aSHF of Gata4^fl/+, Gata4^fl/+;Gli1-CreER^T2/+,or Gata4^fl/+;Pten^fl/+;Gli1-CreER^T2/+ embryos was measured by real-time PCR. Data is presented as Mean±SEM, n = 4, *P < 0.1, **P < 0.05 and ***P < 0.01 compared with the expression in Gata4^fl/+ embryos.