ABSTRACT
Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are structurally related mitogens that can regulate the differentiation of a wide variety of cells. As a step towards elucidating the developmental roles played by one of these factors, we have used in situ hybridization methods to examine expression of the murine Fgf-5 gene during embryogenesis. Fgf-5 RNA was detected at seven distinct sites in the developing mouse embryo: (1) postimplantation epiblast (embryonic day , (2) lateral splanchnic mesoderm
, (3) lateral somatic mesoderm
, (4) myotomes
, (5) mastication muscle
, (6) limb mesenchyme
, and (7) acoustic ganglion
. At several of these sites, expression is spatially restricted within the tissues. We offer several hypotheses regarding the roles of FGF-5 in murine development.
We use standard nomenclature to define conception as midnight preceding the morning of vaginal plug detection. = embryonic day
postconceptus.