Mutation of <i>Sfswap</i> causes smaller vestibular cristae and maculae and misplaced eminentia cruciata.

<p>(A, B): Flat mount preparations of utricles and saccules and cristae from P0 <i>Sfswap^Tg/Tg</i> and wild-type mice stained with fluorescently-labeled phalloidin to reveal hair cells. In addition to reductions in size (C), anterior semicircular canal eminentia cruciata are reduced in 85% of ears examined (B, red arrows denote eminentia cruciata). U: Utricle, S: Saccule, AC: Anterior crista, PC: Posterior crista, HC: Horizontal crista. Scale bars = 50 µm. Significant p-values are denoted with asterisks ** : p≤10⁻³, *** : p≤10⁻⁴, **** : p≤10⁻⁵ (D): Sensory patch primordia are reduced in size as revealed by <i>in situ</i> hybridization for <i>Bmp4</i> and <i>Lfng</i>.