Fig. 2.

Mesenchymal Hoxa5 deletion causes abnormal tracheal cartilage patterning. (A-E) Alcian Blue staining of whole-mount E18.5 tracheas showed cartilage ring malformations (arrows) and ectopic cartilage points (arrowheads) in Hoxa5^−/− and Hoxa5; Dermo1^+/Cre mutants. (F-I) Cartilage defects and reduced luminal surface were demonstrated by Alcian Blue staining of transverse tracheal sections. (J-L) Morphometric measurements of tracheal length (J), external tracheal diameter (K) and luminal surface (L) were evaluated. Mean±s.e.m. are shown. *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001 (Student's t-test). Scale bars: 1 mm (A-E); 100 µm (F-I).