VillinCre-Blimpflox mice postpartum day 7

In many mammalian species, the intestinal epithelium is immature at birth. During the suckling to weaning transition, the intestine matures. This developmental transition is the result of a genetic program that is intrinsic to the gut and independent of luminal content, but its regulators have not been identified. We investigated the function of the transcriptional repressor Blimp-1 using mice with intestine-specific ablation of Blimp-1. Deletion of Blimp-1 results in growth retardation and excess neonatal mortality. Mutant mice lack all typical epithelial features of the suckling period and are born with features of adult-like intestine. To assess the function of the gene Prdm1 (Blimp) on postnatal day 7 intestinal epithelium, VillinCre-Blimpflox and control (VillinCre-Blimpwt or Cre-Blimpflox) mice were generated. Mice were sacrificed at day 7 postnatal, and pieces of whole mid-intestine were taken for analysis.