The development of basement membranes of the mouse embryo

Abstract

The development of collagen and epithelial basement membranes was studied immunohistochemically in mouse embryos utilizing specific antibodies to collagen that would not react with basement membranes of epithelia and antibodies to epithelial basement membranes that would not react with collagen. An epithelial basement membrane appeared prior to the development of mesenchyme in embryos of 5–6 days of age and lay between embryonic epithelium and proximal endoderm. Collagen which was not present in the embryo at this stage appeared later; it was observed first in the walls of the aorta. A differentiating epithelial organ usually develops as a bud from a primordium and shares a common basement membrane with its progenitor. The epithelial basement membrane antigen is associated with the newly developed tissue after detachment from the parent tissue and subsequently for the life of the animal. The data are in accord with the previously established concept that epithelia synthesize their basement membranes and in addition they suggest the probability that epithelial basement membranes are chemically similar.