Forms monomers and multimers. Detected in uterus, kidney, and skin. Also detected in intestine and lung of adult mice, and in calvaria, femur, brain, heart, intestine, skeletal muscle, and lung of newborn mice. First detected at days 7.5-8 dpc, when it is weakly expressed around the developing mesodermal cells. At day 10.5 dpc it is detected in the heart and the condensing somites, and at day 14.5 dpc it is present in the choroid plexus, the cochlea, the terminal bronchii of the lung, the heart, the skin, and in the cartilage primordium of the developing skeleton as well as in the interdigital spaces. Strong staining is seen in the condensed mesenchyme forming the edge of the developing teeth budding into the branchial arch and coinciding with the basement membrane that underlies the stratified squamous epithelia in the oral cavity.