June 7, 2005

Penn Researchers Discover Mutation in
Mouse Circulatory Gene That Mimics
A Form of Congenital Heart Disease

Plasticized cast of the mouse cardiac outflow tract at the time of birth. MRTF-B-deficient mice exhibit a block in neural crest differentiation into smooth muscle resulting in outflow tract defects recapitulating forms of congenital heart disease.

Image courtesy of Jonathan A. Epstein, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine