Figure 1.
Expression of Sox9-Cre and analysis of Tace/Sox9 mice. (A) Analysis of the expression pattern of SOX9. Sections of various organs from Sox9-Cre/CAG-CAT-Z reporter mice stained with X-gal. Bars, 100 μm. β-gal positive cells are ubiquitously found in the growth plate (metatarsi), skin, lung, pancreas, intestine (duodenum), central nervous system (brain), kidney and eye. On the other hand, very little positive staining was found in the spleen, thymus or liver (except for the bile ducts and hepatocytes adjacent to the portal tracts in the liver as indicated by arrowheads). Heart sections revealed positive staining in the heart valves, coronary arteries and fat tissue (arrowheads). (B) Western blotting analysis of TACE in primary osteoblasts and bone marrow macrophages derived from Control (Cont) or Tace/Sox9 (T/S9) mice. (C) Gross morphology of Tace/Sox9 mice at 8 weeks after birth. Note that the Tace/Sox9 mice have short hair and their eye lids remain closed. (D) Survival curve of Control and Tace/Sox9 mice. (E) Weight of Control and Tace/Sox9 mice at different postnatal ages (n = 5–30 for each genotype). Note that the weight of Tace/Sox9 mice was approximately 15–20% less than that of Control mice up to 8 weeks of age; however these mice gain little weight after 8–12 weeks of age. **, p< 0.005.