STERNUM MALFORMATIONS AS A RESULT OF BMP4 DEFICIENCY

Recent data shows that the Bmp4 plays significant roles in a large number of developmental processes,including branching morphogenesis of the lung, toothdevelopment, lens development, neuroepithelial cell diferentiation, primordial germ cell formation, and not leats most importantly bone formation and development.The purpose of this study was to identify the Bmp4 expression and its role in the development of ribs and sternum and analysis of the skeletal phenotypes caused by the genetic inactivation of Bmp4. along with the study of it’s expression patterns.This conclusion of this study is based in part on the finding that some heterozygous mutants, which presumably produce half the amount of active BMP protein as wild type appear to have some skeletal defects with regards to the sternum and ribs.