Timing and pattern of cell fate restrictions in the neural crest lineage

Development ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 124 (21) ◽  
pp. 4351-4359 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.D. Henion ◽  
J.A. Weston

The trunk neural crest of vertebrate embryos is a transient collection of precursor cells present along the dorsal aspect of the neural tube. These cells migrate on two distinct pathways and give rise to specific derivatives in precise embryonic locations. One group of crest cells migrates early on a ventral pathway and generates neurons and glial cells. A later-dispersing group migrates laterally and gives rise to melanocytes in the skin. These observations raise the possibility that the appearance of distinct derivatives in different embryonic locations is a consequence of lineage restrictions specified before or soon after the onset of neural crest cell migration. To test this notion, we have assessed when and in what order distinct cell fates are specified during neural crest development. We determined the proportions of different types of precursor cells in cultured neural crest populations immediately after emergence from the neural tube and at intervals as development proceeds. We found that the initial neural crest population was a heterogeneous mixture of precursors almost half of which generated single-phenotype clones. Distinct neurogenic and melanogenic sublineages were also present in the outgrowth population almost immediately, but melanogenic precursors dispersed from the neural tube only after many neurogenic precursors had already done so. A discrete fate-restricted neuronal precursor population was distinguished before entirely separate fate-restricted melanocyte and glial precursor populations were present, and well before initial neuronal differentiation. Taken together, our results demonstrate that lineage-restricted subpopulations constitute a major portion of the initial neural crest population and that neural crest diversification occurs well before overt differentiation by the asynchronous restriction of distinct cell fates. Thus, the different morphogenetic and differentiative behavior of neural crest subsets in vivo may result from earlier cell fate-specification events that generate developmentally distinct subpopulations that respond differentially to environmental cues.

1992 ◽  
Vol 117 (2) ◽  
pp. 369-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
HJ Hathaway ◽  
BD Shur

Mesenchymal cell migration and neurite outgrowth are mediated in part by binding of cell surface beta 1,4-galactosyltransferase (GalTase) to N-linked oligosaccharides within the E8 domain of laminin. In this study, we determined whether cell surface GalTase functions during neural crest cell migration and neural development in vivo using antibodies raised against affinity-purified chicken serum GalTase. The antibodies specifically recognized two embryonic proteins of 77 and 67 kD, both of which express GalTase activity. The antibodies also immunoprecipitated and inhibited chick embryo GalTase activity, and inhibited neural crest cell migration on laminin matrices in vitro. Anti-GalTase antibodies were microinjected into the head mesenchyme of stage 7-9 chick embryos or cranial to Henson's node of stage 6 embryos. Anti-avian GalTase IgG decreased cranial neural crest cell migration on the injected side but did not cross the embryonic midline and did not affect neural crest cell migration on the uninjected side. Anti-avian GalTase Fab crossed the embryonic midline and perturbed cranial neural crest cell migration throughout the head. Neural fold elevation and neural tube closure were also disrupted by Fab fragments. Cell surface GalTase was localized to migrating neural crest cells and to the basal surfaces of neural epithelia by indirect immunofluorescence, whereas GalTase was undetectable on neural crest cells prior to migration. These results suggest that, during early embryogenesis, cell surface GalTase participates during neural crest cell migration, perhaps by interacting with laminin, a major component of the basal lamina. Cell surface GalTase also appears to play a role in neural tube formation, possibly by mediating neural epithelial adhesion to the underlying basal lamina.


Development ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 108 (4) ◽  
pp. 605-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.N. Serbedzija ◽  
S.E. Fraser ◽  
M. Bronner-Fraser

Analysis of neural crest cell migration in the mouse has been difficult due to the lack of reliable cell markers. Recently, we found that injection of DiI into the chick neural tube marks premigratory neural crest cells whose endfeet are in contact with the lumen of the neural tube (Serbedzija et al. Development 106, 809–819 (1989)). In the present study, this technique was applied to study neural crest cell migratory pathways in the trunk of the mouse embryo. Embryos were removed from the mother between the 8th and the 10th days of development and DiI was injected into the lumen of the neural tube. The embryos were then cultured for 12 to 24 h, and analyzed at the level of the forelimb. We observed two predominant pathways of neural crest cell migration: (1) a ventral pathway through the rostral portion of the somite and (2) a dorsolateral pathway between the dermamyotome and the epidermis. Neural crest cells were observed along the dorsolateral pathway throughout the period of migration. The distribution of labelled cells along the ventral pathway suggested that there were two overlapping phases of migration. An early ventrolateral phase began before E9 and ended by E9.5; this pathway consisted of a stream of cells within the rostral sclerotome, adjacent to the dermamyotome, that extended ventrally to the region of the sympathetic ganglia and the dorsal aorta.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Zygote ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 457-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-tan Zhang ◽  
Guang Wang ◽  
Yan Li ◽  
Manli Chuai ◽  
Kenneth Ka Ho Lee ◽  
...  

SummaryFibroblast growth factor (FGF) signalling acts as one of modulators that control neural crest cell (NCC) migration, but how this is achieved is still unclear. In this study, we investigated the effects of FGF signalling on NCC migration by blocking this process. Constructs that were capable of inducing Sprouty2 (Spry2) or dominant-negative FGFR1 (Dn-FGFR1) expression were transfected into the cells making up the neural tubes. Our results revealed that blocking FGF signalling at stage HH10 (neurulation stage) could enhance NCC migration at both the cranial and trunk levels in the developing embryos. It was established that FGF-mediated NCC migration was not due to altering the expression of N-cadherin in the neural tube. Instead, we determined that cyclin D1 was overexpressed in the cranial and trunk levels when Sprouty2 was upregulated in the dorsal neural tube. These results imply that the cell cycle was a target of FGF signalling through which it regulates NCC migration at the neurulation stage.


Development ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 103 (4) ◽  
pp. 743-756 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.H. Epperlein ◽  
W. Halfter ◽  
R.P. Tucker

It is generally assumed that in amphibian embryos neural crest cells migrate dorsally, where they form the mesenchyme of the dorsal fin, laterally (between somites and epidermis), where they give rise to pigment cells, and ventromedially (between somites and neural tube), where they form the elements of the peripheral nervous system. While there is agreement about the crest migratory routes in the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), different opinions exist about the lateral pathway in Xenopus. We investigated neural crest cell migration in Xenopus (stages 23, 32, 35/36 and 41) using the X. laevis-X. borealis nuclear marker system and could not find evidence for cells migrating laterally. We have also used immunohistochemistry to study the distribution of the extracellular matrix (ECM) glycoproteins fibronectin (FN) and tenascin (TN), which have been implicated in directing neural crest cells during their migrations in avian and mammalian embryos, in the neural crest migratory pathways of Xenopus and the axolotl. In premigratory stages of the crest, both in Xenopus (stage 22) and the axolotl (stage 25), FN was found subepidermally and in extracellular spaces around the neural tube, notochord and somites. The staining was particularly intense in the dorsal part of the embryo, but it was also present along the visceral and parietal layers of the lateral plate mesoderm. TN, in contrast, was found only in the anterior trunk mesoderm in Xenopus; in the axolotl, it was absent. During neural crest cell migration in Xenopus (stages 25–33) and the axolotl (stages 28–35), anti-FN stained the ECM throughout the embryo, whereas anti-TN staining was limited to dorsal regions. There it was particularly intense medially, i.e. in the dorsal fin, around the neural tube, notochord, dorsal aorta and at the medial surface of the somites (stage 35 in both species). During postmigratory stages in Xenopus (stage 40), anti-FN staining was less intense than anti-TN staining. In culture, axolotl neural crest cells spread differently on FN- and TN-coated substrata. On TN, the onset of cellular outgrowth was delayed for about 1 day, but after 3 days the extent of outgrowth was indistinguishable from cultures grown on FN. However, neural crest cells in 3-day-old cultures were much more flattened on FN than on TN. We conclude that both FN and TN are present in the ECM that lines the neural crest migratory pathways of amphibian embryos at the time when the neural crest cells are actively migrating. FN is present in the embryonic ECM before the onset of neural crest migration.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (7) ◽  
pp. eaau5106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anca G. Radu ◽  
Sakina Torch ◽  
Florence Fauvelle ◽  
Karin Pernet-Gallay ◽  
Anthony Lucas ◽  
...  

Metabolic processes underlying the development of the neural crest, an embryonic population of multipotent migratory cells, are poorly understood. Here, we report that conditional ablation of the Lkb1 tumor suppressor kinase in mouse neural crest stem cells led to intestinal pseudo-obstruction and hind limb paralysis. This phenotype originated from a postnatal degeneration of the enteric nervous ganglia and from a defective differentiation of Schwann cells. Metabolomic profiling revealed that pyruvate-alanine conversion is enhanced in the absence of Lkb1. Mechanistically, inhibition of alanine transaminases restored glial differentiation in an mTOR-dependent manner, while increased alanine level directly inhibited the glial commitment of neural crest cells. Treatment with the metabolic modulator AICAR suppressed mTOR signaling and prevented Schwann cell and enteric defects of Lkb1 mutant mice. These data uncover a link between pyruvate-alanine cycling and the specification of glial cell fate with potential implications in the understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of neural crest diseases.


Development ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 121 (4) ◽  
pp. 935-945 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Birgbauer ◽  
J. Sechrist ◽  
M. Bronner-Fraser ◽  
S. Fraser

Neural crest cell migration in the hindbrain is segmental, with prominent streams of migrating cells adjacent to rhombomeres (r) r2, r4 and r6, but not r3 or r5. This migratory pattern cannot be explained by the failure of r3 and r5 to produce neural crest, since focal injections of the lipophilic dye, DiI, into the neural folds clearly demonstrate that all rhombomeres produce neural crest cells. Here, we examine the dynamics of hindbrain neural crest cell emigration and movement by iontophoretically injecting DiI into small numbers of cells. The intensely labeled cells and their progeny were repeatedly imaged using low-light-level epifluorescence microscopy, permitting their movement to be followed in living embryos over time. These intravital images definitively show that neural crest cells move both rostrally and caudally from r3 and r5 to emerge as a part of the streams adjacent to r2, r4, and/or r6. Within the first few hours, cells labeled in r3 move within and/or along the dorsal neural tube surface, either rostrally toward the r2/3 border or caudally toward the r3/4 border. The labeled cells exit the surface of the neural tube near these borders and migrate toward the first or second branchial arches several hours after initial labeling. Focal DiI injections into r5 resulted in neural crest cell contributions to both the second and third branchial arches, again via rostrocaudal movements of the cells before migration into the periphery. These results demonstrate conclusively that all rhombomeres give rise to neural crest cells, and that rostrocaudal rearrangement of the cells contributes to the segmental migration of neural crest cells adjacent to r2, r4, and r6. Furthermore, it appears that there are consistent exit points of neural crest cell emigration; for example, cells arising from r3 emigrate almost exclusively from the rostral or caudal borders of that rhombomere.


Development ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-35
Author(s):  
Gillian M. Morriss ◽  
D. A. T. New

Rat embryos, 9½ days old, cultured with a 5% or 10% O2 gas phase underwent normal or near-normal cranial neurulation; however, culture at 20% or 40% O2 resulted in abnormal morphogenesis of the cranial neural folds from the 9-somite stage onwards, and the brain tube frequently failed to close. Normal morphogenesis was characterized by a narrowing V-shaped profile, development of a slightly concave neuroepithelial surface, and formation of a sharp mediad curvature of the most lateral region prior to midline apposition and fusion. These morphogenetic events were related to cellular changes within the neuroepithelium, namely cell death, onset of neural crest cell migration, and loss of apical microfilament bundles from the most lateral cells. In 20% and 40% O2-cultured embryos, failure of curvature of the neuroepithelium was associated with failure or retardation of the related cellular changes; it may therefore have been due to the maintenance of an excessive rigidity which opposed the forces involved in bringing about the final stage of brain-tube formation. Mitochondria in normal (low O2 and in vivo) embryos were of the anaerobic type, having few cristae; in high O2,-cultured embryos they were of the characteristic aerobic type, indicating an adaptation to the abnormal environment.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document