The environmental toxicant 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo--dioxin disrupts morphogenesis of the rat pre-implantation embryo-6

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "The environmental toxicant 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo--dioxin disrupts morphogenesis of the rat pre-implantation embryo"</p><p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-213X/8/1</p><p>BMC Developmental Biology 2008;8():1-1.</p><p>Published online 2 Jan 2008</p><p>PMCID:PMC2254588.</p><p></p>ssed for visualization of microtubules, f-actin and DNA by confocal microscopy. (A-D) Control 8-cell pre-implantation embryo with blastomeres of similar size and shape, basally positioned interphase nuclei and cytoplasmic microtubule arrays. F-actin is distributed at the cell cortex. (E-H) Control 12-cell pre-implantation embryo with a normal bipolar mitotic spindle (E and H, arrows), metaphase chromosome configuration (F, arrow) and cortical f-actin localization (G, arrow). (I-L) 50 ng/kg/wk TCDD exposed 9-cell pre-implantation embryo with abnormal mitotic spindles (L, arrow) and metaphase chromosome configurations (J, arrow), and enhanced f-actin cortical localization (K, arrow) in multiple blastomeres. (M-P) 50 ng/kg/wk TCDD exposed 8-cell pre-implantation embryo with an anucleate fragment (M, arrow) and abnormal cytokinesis (O, arrows). Monopolar spindle (P, arrow). PB, polar body. Scale bar: 15 μm