The neural tube origin of ventral root sheath cells in the chick embryo

Development ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 101 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.R. Lunn ◽  
J. Scourfield ◽  
R.J. Keynes ◽  
C.D. Stern

The embryonic origin of peripheral nerve Schwann/sheath cells is still uncertain. Although the neural crest is known to be an important source, it is not clear whether the ventral neural tube also contributes a progenitor population for motor axons. We have used the techniques of immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy and quail-chick grafting to examine this problem. Immunohistochemistry with monoclonal antibody HNK-1 identified a cluster of immunoreactive cells in the sclerotome, at the site of the future ventral root. With the electron microscope, nucleated cells could not be seen breaching the basal lamina of the neural tube, exclusively in the region of the ventral root and preceding axon outgrowth. After grafting a length of crest-ablated quail neural tube in place of host chick neural tube, a population of quail cells was found localized to the ventral root exit zone, associated with the ventral root axons. Taken together, these observations support the possibility of a neural tube origin for ventral root sheath cells, although we found no evidence for a more extensive migration of these cells. The ventral root cells share certain phenotypic traits, such as HNK-1 immunoreactivity, with neural-crest-derived Schwann cells, but are not necessarily identical to them. We argue that while they may help motor axons to exit the neural tube at the correct position, they are unlikely to guide axons beyond the immediate vicinity of the neural tube.

Development ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 120 (6) ◽  
pp. 1411-1420 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Bhattacharyya ◽  
R. Brackenbury ◽  
N. Ratner

The neural crest gives rise to a variety of cell types including Schwann cells of the peripheral nervous system. Schwann cell precursors begin to differentiate early and migrate along specific pathways in the embryo before associating with nerve trunks. To determine whether motor axons direct the migration of Schwann cell precursors along specific pathways, we tested the effect of ablating the ventral half of the neural tube, which contains motor neuron cell bodies. The ventral neural tube was removed unilaterally from lumbar regions of chicken embryos at stage 17, when neural crest cells are just beginning to migrate and before motor axons have extended out of the neural tube. At several stages after ventral tube ablation, sections of the lumbar region of these embryos were stained with anti-acetylated tubulin to label developing axons, HNK-1 to label migrating neural crest cells and 1E8 to label Schwann cell precursors. In many embryos the ablation of motor neurons was incomplete. The staining patterns in these embryos support the idea that some Schwann cells are derived from the neural tube. In embryos with complete motor neuron ablation, at stage 18, HNK-1-positive neural crest cells had migrated to normal locations in both control and ablated sides of the embryo, suggesting that motor axons or the ventral neural tube are not required for proper migration of neural crest cells. However, by stage 19, cells that were positive for HNK-1 or 1E8 were no longer seen in the region of the ventral root, nor ventral to the ventral root region. Because Schwann cell precursors require neural-derived factors for their survival in vitro, we tested whether neural crest cells that migrate to the region of the ventral root in ventral neural tube-ablated embryos then die. Nile Blue staining for dead and dying cells in ventral neural tube-ablated embryos provided no evidence for cell death at stage 18. These results suggest that motor axons arrest the migration of Schwann cell precursors during neural crest migration.


Development ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 437-455
Author(s):  
M. Rickmann ◽  
J. W. Fawcett ◽  
R. J. Keynes

We have studied the pathway of migration of neural crest cells through the somites of the developing chick embryo, using the monoclonal antibodies NC-1 and HNK-1 to stain them. Crest cells, as they migrate ventrally from the dorsal aspect of the neural tube, pass through the lateral part of the sclerotome, but only through that part of the sclerotome which lies in the rostral half of each somite. This migration pathway is almost identical to the path which presumptive motor axons take when they grow out from the neural tube shortly after the onset of neural crest migration. In order to see whether the ventral root axons are guided along this pathway by neural crest cells, we surgically excised the neural crest from a series of embryos, and examined the pattern of axon outgrowth approximately 24 h later. In somites which contained no neural crest cells, ventral root axons were still found only in the rostral half of the somite, although axonal growth was slightly delayed. These axons were surrounded by sheath cells, which had presumably migrated out of the neural tube, to a point about 50 μm proximal to the growth cones. With appropriate antibodies we found that the extracellular matrix components fibronectin and laminin are evenly distributed between the rostral and caudal halves of the somite. Neither of these molecules therefore plays a critical role in determining the specific pathway of neural crest cells or motor axons through the rostral half of the somite.


Development ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 106 (4) ◽  
pp. 809-816 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.N. Serbedzija ◽  
M. Bronner-Fraser ◽  
S.E. Fraser

To permit a more detailed analysis of neural crest cell migratory pathways in the chick embryo, neural crest cells were labelled with a nondeleterious membrane intercalating vital dye, DiI. All neural tube cells with endfeet in contact with the lumen, including premigratory neural crest cells, were labelled by pressure injecting a solution of DiI into the lumen of the neural tube. When assayed one to three days later, migrating neural crest cells, motor axons, and ventral root cells were the only cells types external to the neural tube labelled with DiI. During the neural crest cell migratory phase, distinctly labelled cells were found along: (1) a dorsolateral pathway, under the epidermis, as well adjacent to and intercalating through the dermamyotome; and (2) a ventral pathway, through the rostral portion of each sclerotome and around the dorsal aorta as described previously. In contrast to those cells migrating through the sclerotome, labelled cells on the dorsolateral pathway were not segmentally arranged along the rostrocaudal axis. DiI-labelled cells were observed in all truncal neural crest derivatives, including subepidermal presumptive pigment cells, dorsal root ganglia, and sympathetic ganglia. By varying the stage at which the injection was performed, neural crest cell emigration at the level of the wing bud was shown to occur from stage 13 through stage 22. In addition, neural crest cells were found to populate their derivatives in a ventral-to-dorsal order, with the latest emigrating cells migrating exclusively along the dorsolateral pathway.


Development ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 113 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.D. Stern ◽  
K.B. Artinger ◽  
M. Bronner-Fraser

A series of microsurgical operations was performed in chick embryos to study the factors that control the polarity, position and differentiation of the sympathetic and dorsal root ganglion cells developing from the neural crest. The neural tube, with or without the notochord, was rotated by 180 degrees dorsoventrally to cause the neural crest cells to emerge ventrally. In some embryos, the notochord was ablated, and in others a second notochord was implanted. Sympathetic differentiation was assessed by catecholamine fluorescence after aldehyde fixation. Neural crest cells emerging from an inverted neural tube migrate in a ventral-to-dorsal direction through the sclerotome, where they become segmented by being restricted to the rostral half of each sclerotome. Both motor axons and neural crest cells avoid the notochord and the extracellular matrix that surrounds it, but motor axons appear also to be attracted to the notochord until they reach its immediate vicinity. The dorsal root ganglia always form adjacent to the neural tube and their dorsoventral orientation follows the direction of migration of the neural crest cells. Differentiation of catecholaminergic cells only occurs near the aorta/mesonephros and in addition requires the proximity of either the ventral neural tube (floor plate/ventral root region) or the notochord. Prior migration of presumptive catecholaminergic cells through the sclerotome, however, is neither required nor sufficient for their adrenergic differentiation.


1992 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 727-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoyuki UCHIDA ◽  
Takesi FUJIE ◽  
Seiji ARASE ◽  
Yosiroh NINOMIYA ◽  
Hideki NAKANISI ◽  
...  

2007 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-52
Author(s):  
Koh-ichi Atoh ◽  
Manae S. Kurokawa ◽  
Hideshi Yoshikawa ◽  
Chieko Masuda ◽  
Erika Takada ◽  
...  

2008 ◽  
Vol 295 (5) ◽  
pp. L858-L865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Kwong ◽  
Marian Kollarik ◽  
Christina Nassenstein ◽  
Fei Ru ◽  
Bradley J. Undem

The lungs and esophagus are innervated by sensory neurons with somata in the nodose, jugular, and dorsal root ganglion. These sensory ganglia are derived from embryonic placode (nodose) and neural crest tissues (jugular and dorsal root ganglia; DRG). We addressed the hypothesis that the neuron's embryonic origin (e.g., placode vs. neural crest) plays a greater role in determining particular aspects of its phenotype than the environment in which it innervates (e.g., lungs vs. esophagus). This hypothesis was tested using a combination of extracellular and patch-clamp electrophysiology and single-cell RT-PCR from guinea pig neurons. Nodose, but not jugular C-fibers innervating the lungs and esophagus, responded to α,β-methylene ATP with action potential discharge that was sensitive to the P2X3 (P2X2/3) selective receptor antagonist A-317491. The somata of lung- and esophagus-specific sensory fibers were identified using retrograde tracing with a fluorescent dye. Esophageal- and lung-traced neurons from placodal tissue (nodose neurons) responded similarly to α,β-methylene ATP (30 μM) with a large sustained inward current, whereas in neurons derived from neural crest tissue (jugular and DRG neurons), the same dose of α,β-methylene ATP resulted in only a transient rapidly inactivating current or no detectable current. It has been shown previously that only activation of P2X2/3 heteromeric receptors produce sustained currents, whereas homomeric P2X3 receptor activation produces a rapidly inactivating current. Consistent with this, single-cell RT-PCR analysis revealed that the nodose ganglion neurons innervating the lungs and esophagus expressed mRNA for P2X2 and P2X3 subunits, whereas the vast majority of jugular and dorsal root ganglia innervating these tissues expressed only P2X3 mRNA with little to no P2X2 mRNA expression. We conclude that the responsiveness of C-fibers innervating the lungs and esophagus to ATP and other purinergic agonists is determined more by their embryonic origin than by the environment of the tissue they ultimately innervate.


genesis ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra J. Palmer ◽  
Dawn Savery ◽  
Valentina Massa ◽  
Andrew J. Copp ◽  
Nicholas D. E. Greene

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 5761
Author(s):  
Anja Wessely ◽  
Theresa Steeb ◽  
Carola Berking ◽  
Markus Vincent Heppt

Cutaneous melanoma represents one of the deadliest types of skin cancer. The prognosis strongly depends on the disease stage, thus early detection is crucial. New therapies, including BRAF and MEK inhibitors and immunotherapies, have significantly improved the survival of patients in the last decade. However, intrinsic and acquired resistance is still a challenge. In this review, we discuss two major aspects that contribute to the aggressiveness of melanoma, namely, the embryonic origin of melanocytes and melanoma cells and cellular plasticity. First, we summarize the physiological function of epidermal melanocytes and their development from precursor cells that originate from the neural crest (NC). Next, we discuss the concepts of intratumoral heterogeneity, cellular plasticity, and phenotype switching that enable melanoma to adapt to changes in the tumor microenvironment and promote disease progression and drug resistance. Finally, we further dissect the connection of these two aspects by focusing on the transcriptional regulators MSX1, MITF, SOX10, PAX3, and FOXD3. These factors play a key role in NC initiation, NC cell migration, and melanocyte formation, and we discuss how they contribute to cellular plasticity and drug resistance in melanoma.


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