Figure 5.

Ahepatogenic Phenotype of HHEX^–/– Fetus and Its Compensation by Blastocyst Complementation

(A) An HHEX^–/– fetus with a hepatogenesis-disabled phenotype (left) and a fetus with normalized trait obtained after blastocyst complementation (middle). Scale bars, 5 mm.

(B) Transverse section of a HHEX^–/– fetus (left) with a nearly empty liver capsule-like structure (arrowhead), indicating failure of liver development. A chimeric fetus obtained by blastocyst complementation (center) exhibited normally developed liver as seen in a WT fetus (right). Inset pictures of fetuses indicate directions of the transverse sections (dotted line). Sagittal sections of the HHEX^–/– (left) and WT (right) fetuses. Scale bars, 500 μm.

(C) A chimeric (HHEX^–/– ↔ huKO) full-term fetus with normal hepatogenesis obtained by blastocyst complementation, showing fluorescence derived from the donor cells.

(D) Morphologically normal liver developed in the chimeric fetus.

(E) Histological features of the liver developed from the exogenous cells. Scale bars, 100 μm.