Embryonic implantation in galectin 1/galectin 3 double mutant mice

✍ Scribed by Céline Colnot; Deborah Fowlis; Marie-Anne Ripoche; Isabelle Bouchaert; Françoise Poirier

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 196 KB
• Volume: 211
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1058-8388
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0177(199804)211:4<306::aid-aja2>3.0.co;2-l

✦ Synopsis

Galectin 1 and galectin 3 are first expressed in the trophectoderm cells of the implanting embryo and have been implicated in the process of implantation. However, we had previously shown that the lack of galectin 1 in galectin 1 null mutant mice is compatible with implantation. In this study, we describe the generation of galectin 3 null mutant mice and show that they are viable and have no overt abnormalities. The importance of galectin 1 and galectin 3 in implantation was assessed by obtaining double mutant mice [gal1 ؊/؊; gal3 ؊/؊]. We find that implantation can still occur in the absence of both galectin 1 and galectin 3. However, we show that galectin 5, a third member of this gene family, is also present in the blastocyst at the time of implantation.