SOX9 and congenital diaphragmatic hernia: In this context, considering the intricate morphological, cellular and molecular dynamics during fetal lung development that determine the complex architecture of the lung at birth, the purpose of our investigation was determine the spatiotemporal distribution for receptors (ROBO1 and ROBO2) and epithelial progenitor markers (SOX2 and SOX9) from embryonic-to-saccular developmental stages in nitrofen-induced CDH rat model; and to identify the molecular effect of ROBO1 and ROBO2 inhibition in both ex vivo branching morphogenesis and SOX2/SOX9 profiles.