Dorsal pancreas agenesis in N-cadherin-deficient mice

Members of the cadherin family of cell adhesion molecules are thought to be crucial regulators of tissue patterning and organogenesis. During pancreat ic ontogeny N-cadherin is initially expressed in the pancreatic mesenchyme and later in pancreatic endoderm. Analysis of N-cadherin-deficient mice rev ealed that these mice suffer from selective agenesis of the dorsal pancreas . Further analysis demonstrated that the mechanism for the lack of a dorsal pancreas involves an essential function of N-cadherin as a survival factor in the dorsal pancreatic mesenchyme. (C) 2001 Academic Press.