Analysis of Transforming Growth Factor ß Family Cleavage Products Secreted Into the Blastocoele of Xenopus laevis EmbryosHyung-Seok Kim 1, Jan L. Christian 2
1Department of Neurobiology, University of Utah, 2Departments of Neurobiology and Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology and Hematologic Malignancies, University of Utah, School of Medicine
When Transforming Growth Factor ß family precursor proteins are ectopically expressed in Xenopus laevis embryos, they dimerize, get cleaved and are secreted into the blastocoele, which begins at the late blastula to early gastrula stage. We describe a method for aspirating cleavage products from the blastocoele cavity for immunoblot analysis.