Gene expression of sHsps, Hsp40 and Hsp60 families in normal and abnormal embryonic development of mouse forelimbs

Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are thought of as chaperones of morphologic development of cells and organisms, and believed to be closely related to normal and abnormal embryonic development. Previous studies only focused on a small number of HSPs and their relationships with embryogenesis, and roles of most HSPs in normal and abnormal embryonic development remain unclear. The present study detected expression of sHsps, Hsp40 and Hsp60 in normal and abnormal development of embryonic forelimbs in all-trans retinoic acid (atRA)-induced phocomelic, oligodactylic and atRA-induced abnormal limb bud development models in mice ex vivo. It was found that 17 Hsps of the three families were expressed in embryonic limb bud tissue of normal mice, though the expression patterns were different, showing a phase correlation with the development of embryo. There was a difference in the expression pattern and mRNA abundance of most genes between the atRA-indcued limb abnormal development model groups and the control group. Most members of the three families may play a stress-protective role in atRA-induced abnormal limb development, and abnormal expression of some genes (Hsp25, HspB2, HspB3, HspB7, Hsp20, HspB9, HspB10 and Hsp40) may be related to atRA-induced phocomelic and other abnormalities.