Epithelial differentiation in the mouse preimplantation embryo: making adhesive cell contacts for the first time.

The preimplantation embryo generates two distinct tissues, the trophectoderm, which is a transporting polarized epithelium, and the inner cell mass. Epithelial differentiation and tissue segregation, here examined in relation to the maturation of membrane adhesion and cell junction systems, are coordinated events regulated by a combination of the zygotic gene expression programme, kinase-mediated protein activation and cell-cell interactions.