Hemodynamic force is vital to cardiovascular remodeling in the early post-implantation mouse embryo. Here, we present work using microCT and lightsheet microscopy to establish the critical sequence of developmental events required for forming functional vasculature and circulation in the embryo, yolk sac, and placenta in the context of normal and impaired flow. A flow impaired model, Mlc2a+/- will be used to determine how hemodynamic force affects the specific events during embryonic development and vascular remodeling between the 4 and 29-somite stage using microCT. We have recently established high-resolution methods for the generation of 3D image volumes from the whole embryo within the deciduum (Hsu et al., in revision). This method enables the careful characterization of 3D images of vitelline and umbilical vessel remodeling to define how poor blood flow impacts both vitelline and umbilical vessel remodeling. Novel lightsheet live imaging techniques will be used to determine the consequence of impaired blood flow on yolk sac vasculature remodeling and formation of umbilical vessels using transgenic reporters: Flk-myr::mCherry, Flk1-H2B::YFP, or εGlobin-GFP. High-resolution 3D imaging of fixed and ScaleA2-cleared whole mount embryos labeled with Ki67 and Caspase3 will also be performed using lightsheet microscopy to quantify the proliferation and apoptotic indexes of early post-implanted embryos and yolk sac. This multi-modality approach is aimed at revealing further information about the cellular mechanisms required for proper vessel remodeling and the initial stages in placentation during early post-implantation development.
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