Figure 1. Procedures for palatal organ culture in CL/Fr bilateral cleft lip (A,C,E) and CL/Fr normal (B,D,F) embryos. (A) Head of a CL/Fr-BCL embryo; (B) head of a CL/Fr-N embryo; (C) palate of a CL/Fr-BCL embryo with mandible removed; (D) palate of a CL/Fr-N embryo with the mandible removed, showing normal lip closure; (E) transverse section of a CL/Fr-BCL palatal shelf after 48 hrs of culture; and (F) transverse section of a CL/Fr-N palatal shelf after 48 hrs of culture. In (A) and (C), a bilateral cleft lip is indicated by arrows. In (C) and (D), the dotted lines indicate the incision line. In (E) and (F), both palates show epithelial disappearance and mesenchymal fusion (arrows). Scale bars = 1 mm (A,B,C,D) and 500 µm (E,F).