Figure 1.

Body length growth curves. Body length growth vs. gestational days is as shown. Control embryos (filled triangles, wild-type and heterozygous embryos were pooled together as there were no differences between these two groups) and knockout embryos (filled circles) were as shown. The growth curve showed a linear increase from E9.5 to E19.5 in controls, but deviated at ~E14.5 in Dhcr7^-/- embryos. Body lengths at E17.5 (18.87 ± 1.29 mm in controls, n = 15 vs. 16.69 ± 1.05 mm in Dhcr7^-/-, n = 7, p < 0.05), E18.5 (21.35 ± 1.05 mm in controls, n = 15 vs. 19.38 ± 0.9 mm in Dhcr7^-/-, n = 5, p < 0.05) and E19.5 (23.4 ± 0.97 mm in controls, n = 13 vs. 20.3 ± 0.44 mm in Dhcr7^-/-, n = 4, p < 0.05) were significantly decreased, compared to those in controls. Results are expressed as mean ± s.d.