FIGURE 3.

Phenotype of Pitx2-Cre/Dicer1 conditional knock-out (cKO) mouse. A, the mutant mouse (left) at 4 weeks old is significantly smaller compared with the wild type mouse (right). B, growth curve of wild type and Dicer1 mutant mice (mutant, n = 9; wild type, n = 15). Error bars, S.E. The mutant mice are growth-retarded as adults. C, Pitx2-Cre is highly expressed in the anterior pituitary at E16.5 as assayed by analysis of Rosa 26 reporter/LacZ activation (X-gal stain). These data demonstrate that Cre expression driven by Pitx2 is expressed in all pituitary cell lineages.