Neural tube closure in Xenopus laevis involves medial migration, directed protrusive activity, cell intercalation and convergent extension

Development ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 126 (20) ◽  
pp. 4547-4556 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.A. Davidson ◽  
R.E. Keller
Keyword(s):  
Confocal Microscopy ◽  
Xenopus Laevis ◽  
Neural Crest ◽  
Neural Tube ◽  
Neural Plate ◽  
Neural Cells ◽  
Dorsal Midline ◽  
Cell Movements ◽  
Dorsal Neural Tube

We have characterized the cell movements and prospective cell identities as neural folds fuse during neural tube formation in Xenopus laevis. A newly developed whole-mount, two-color fluorescent RNA in situ hybridization method, visualized with confocal microscopy, shows that the dorsal neural tube gene xpax3 and the neural-crest-specific gene xslug are expressed far lateral to the medial site of neural fold fusion and that expression moves medially after fusion. To determine whether cell movements or dynamic changes in gene expression are responsible, we used low-light videomicroscopy followed by fluorescent in situ and confocal microscopy. These methods revealed that populations of prospective neural crest and dorsal neural tube cells near the lateral margin of the neural plate at the start of neurulation move to the dorsal midline using distinctive forms of motility. Before fold fusion, superficial neural cells apically contract, roll the neural plate into a trough and appear to pull the superficial epidermal cell sheet medially. After neural fold fusion, lateral deep neural cells move medially by radially intercalating between other neural cells using two types of motility. The neural crest cells migrate as individual cells toward the dorsal midline using medially directed monopolar protrusions. These movements combine the two lateral populations of neural crest into a single medial population that form the roof of the neural tube. The remaining cells of the dorsal neural tube extend protrusions both medially and laterally bringing about radial intercalation of deep and superficial cells to form a single-cell-layered, pseudostratified neural tube. While ours is the first description of medially directed cell migration during neural fold fusion and re-establishment of the neural tube, these complex cell behaviors may be involved during cavitation of the zebrafish neural keel and secondary neurulation in the posterior axis of chicken and mouse.

scholarly journals Bimodal function of chromatin remodeler Hmga1 in neural crest induction and Wnt-dependent emigration

eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shashank Gandhi ◽  
Erica J Hutchins ◽  
Krystyna Maruszko ◽  
Jong H Park ◽  
Matthew Thomson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Crest ◽  
Neural Tube ◽  
Neural Crest Cells ◽  
Neural Plate ◽  
Chromatin Remodeler ◽  
Lineage Specification ◽  
Dorsal Neural Tube ◽  
Neural Crest Development ◽  
Neural Plate Border ◽  
Canonical Wnt

During gastrulation, neural crest cells are specified at the neural plate border, as characterized by Pax7 expression. Using single-cell RNA sequencing coupled with high-resolution in situ hybridization to identify novel transcriptional regulators, we show that chromatin remodeler Hmga1 is highly expressed prior to specification and maintained in migrating chick neural crest cells. Temporally controlled CRISPR-Cas9-mediated knockouts uncovered two distinct functions of Hmga1 in neural crest development. At the neural plate border, Hmga1 regulates Pax7-dependent neural crest lineage specification. At premigratory stages, a second role manifests where Hmga1 loss reduces cranial crest emigration from the dorsal neural tube independent of Pax7. Interestingly, this is rescued by stabilized ß-catenin, thus implicating Hmga1 as a canonical Wnt activator. Together, our results show that Hmga1 functions in a bimodal manner during neural crest development to regulate specification at the neural plate border, and subsequent emigration from the neural tube via canonical Wnt signaling.

scholarly journals Effects of Shh and Noggin on neural crest formation demonstrate that BMP is required in the neural tube but not ectoderm

Development ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 125 (24) ◽  
pp. 4919-4930 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.A. Selleck ◽  
M.I. Garcia-Castro ◽  
K.B. Artinger ◽  
M. Bronner-Fraser
Keyword(s):  
Neural Crest ◽  
Sonic Hedgehog ◽  
Neural Tube ◽  
Neural Crest Cells ◽  
Neural Plate ◽  
Bmp Signaling ◽  
Neural Tube Closure ◽  
Dorsal Neural Tube ◽  
Neural Ectoderm ◽  
Tube Closure

To define the timing of neural crest formation, we challenged the fate of presumptive neural crest cells by grafting notochords, Sonic Hedgehog- (Shh) or Noggin-secreting cells at different stages of neurulation in chick embryos. Notochords or Shh-secreting cells are able to prevent neural crest formation at open neural plate levels, as assayed by DiI-labeling and expression of the transcription factor, Slug, suggesting that neural crest cells are not committed to their fate at this time. In contrast, the BMP signaling antagonist, Noggin, does not repress neural crest formation at the open neural plate stage, but does so if injected into the lumen of the closing neural tube. The period of Noggin sensitivity corresponds to the time when BMPs are expressed in the dorsal neural tube but are down-regulated in the non-neural ectoderm. To confirm the timing of neural crest formation, Shh or Noggin were added to neural folds at defined times in culture. Shh inhibits neural crest production at early stages (0-5 hours in culture), whereas Noggin exerts an effect on neural crest production only later (5-10 hours in culture). Our results suggest three phases of neurulation that relate to neural crest formation: (1) an initial BMP-independent phase that can be prevented by Shh-mediated signals from the notochord; (2) an intermediate BMP-dependent phase around the time of neural tube closure, when BMP-4 is expressed in the dorsal neural tube; and (3) a later pre-migratory phase which is refractory to exogenous Shh and Noggin.

Sequence and developmental expression of AmphiDll, an amphioxus Distal-less gene transcribed in the ectoderm, epidermis and nervous system: insights into evolution of craniate forebrain and neural crest

Development ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 122 (9) ◽  
pp. 2911-2920 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.D. Holland ◽  
G. Panganiban ◽  
E.L. Henyey ◽  
L.Z. Holland
Keyword(s):  
Neural Crest ◽  
Neural Tube ◽  
Expression Patterns ◽  
Neural Plate ◽  
Epidermal Cells ◽  
Developmental Expression ◽  
Neural Cells ◽  
Dorsoventral Axis ◽  
Dynamic Expression ◽  
Cerebral Vesicle

The dynamic expression patterns of the single amphioxus Distal-less homolog (AmphiDll) during development are consistent with successive roles of this gene in global regionalization of the ectoderm, establishment of the dorsoventral axis, specification of migratory epidermal cells early in neurulation and the specification of forebrain. Such a multiplicity of Distal-less functions probably represents an ancestral chordate condition and, during craniate evolution, when this gene diversified into a family of six or so members, the original functions evidently tended to be parcelled out among the descendant genes. In the amphioxus gastrula, AmphiDll is expressed throughout the animal hemisphere (presumptive ectoderm), but is soon downregulated dorsally (in the presumptive neural plate). During early neurulation, AmphiDll-expressing epidermal cells flanking the neural plate extend lamellipodia, appear to migrate over it and meet mid-dorsally. Midway in neurulation, cells near the anterior end of the neural plate begin expressing AmphiDll and, as neurulation terminates, these cells are incorporated into the dorsal part of the neural tube, which forms by a curling of the neural plate. This group of AmphiDll-expressing neural cells and a second group expressing the gene a little later and even more anteriorly in the neural tube demarcate a region that comprises the anterior three/fourths of the cerebral vesicle; this region of the amphioxus neural tube, as judged by neural expression domains of craniate Distal-less-related genes, is evidently homologous to the craniate forebrain. Our results suggest that craniates evolved from an amphioxus-like creature that had the beginnings of a forebrain and possibly a precursor of neural crest - namely, the cell population leading the epidermal overgrowth of the neural plate during early neurulation.

scholarly journals Regulative capacity of the cranial neural tube to form neural crest

Development ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 118 (4) ◽  
pp. 1049-1062 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Scherson ◽  
G. Serbedzija ◽  
S. Fraser ◽  
M. Bronner-Fraser
Keyword(s):  
Neural Crest ◽  
Neural Tube ◽  
Neural Crest Cells ◽  
Neural Tube Closure ◽  
Dorsal Midline ◽  
Dorsal Neural Tube ◽  
Ventral Neural Tube ◽  
Cranial Neural Crest Cells ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Regulative Capacity

In avian embryos, cranial neural crest cells emigrate from the dorsal midline of the neural tube shortly after neural tube closure. Previous lineage analyses suggest that the neural crest is not a pre-segregated population of cells within the neural tube; instead, a single progenitor in the dorsal neural tube can contribute to neurons in both the central and the peripheral nervous systems (Bronner-Fraser and Fraser, 1989 Neuron 3, 755–766). To explore the relationship between the ‘premigratory’ neural crest cells and the balance of the cells in the neural tube in the midbrain and hindbrain region, we have challenged the fate of these populations by ablating the neural crest either alone or in combination with the adjoining ventral portions of the neural tube. Focal injections of the vital dye, DiI, into the neural tissue bordering the ablated region demonstrate that cells at the same axial level, in the lateral and ventral neural tube, regulate to reconstitute a population of neural crest cells. These cells emigrate from the neural tube, migrate along normal pathways according to their axial level of origin and appear to give rise to a normal range of derivatives. This regulation following ablation suggests that neural tube cells normally destined to form CNS derivatives can adjust their prospective fates to form PNS and other neural crest derivatives until 4.5-6 hours after the time of normal onset of emigration from the neural tube.

scholarly journals Role of FGF signalling in neural crest cell migration during early chick embryo development

Zygote ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 457-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-tan Zhang ◽  
Guang Wang ◽  
Yan Li ◽  
Manli Chuai ◽  
Kenneth Ka Ho Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Crest ◽  
Neural Tube ◽  
Neural Crest Cell ◽  
Dominant Negative ◽  
Neural Tubes ◽  
Dorsal Neural Tube ◽  
Neural Crest Cell Migration ◽  
Fgf Signalling ◽  
Crest Cell

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.

scholarly journals Folate deficiency prevents neural crest fate by disturbing the epigenetic Sox2 repression on the dorsal neural tube

2018 ◽  
Vol 444 ◽  
pp. S193-S201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nagif Alata Jimenez ◽  
Sergio A. Torres Pérez ◽  
Estefanía Sánchez-Vásquez ◽  
Juan I. Fernandino ◽  
Pablo H. Strobl-Mazzulla
Keyword(s):  
Neural Crest ◽  
Neural Tube ◽  
Folate Deficiency ◽  
Dorsal Neural Tube

An SEM analysis of neural crest migration in the mouse

Development ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-118
Author(s):  
C. A. Erickson ◽  
J. A. Weston
Keyword(s):  
Neural Crest ◽  
Basal Lamina ◽  
Neural Tube ◽  
Neural Crest Cells ◽  
Sem Analysis ◽  
Basement Membranes ◽  
Dorsal Neural Tube ◽  
Trunk Neural Crest ◽  
Unique Cell ◽  
Neural Crest Migration

The cellular morphology and migratory pathways of the trunk neural crest are described in normal mouse embryos, and in embryos homozygous for Patch in which neural crest derivatives develop abnormally. Trunk neural crest cells initially appear in 8½-day embryos as a unique cell population on the dorsal neural tube surface and are relatively rounded. Once they begin to migrate the cells flatten and orient somewhat tangentially to the neural tube, and advance ventrad between the somites and neural tube. At the onset of migration neural crest cells extend lamellipodia onto the surface of the tube while detaching their trailing processes from the lumenal surface. The basal lamina on the dorsal neural tube is discontinuous when cell migration begins in this region. As development proceeds, the basal lamina gradually becomes continuous from a lateral to dorsal direction and neural crest emigration is progressively confined to the narrowing region of discontinuous basal lamina. Cell separation from the neural tube ceases concomitant with completion of a continuous basement membrane. Preliminary observations of the mutant embryos reveal that abnormal extracellular spaces appear and patterns of crest migration are subsequently altered. We conclude that the extracellular matrix, extracellular spaces and basement membranes may delimit crest migration in the mouse.

Inhibition of noggin expression in the dorsal neural tube by somitogenesis: a mechanism for coordinating the timing of neural crest emigration

Development ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 127 (22) ◽  
pp. 4845-4854 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Sela-Donenfeld ◽  
C. Kalcheim
Keyword(s):  
Neural Crest ◽  
Neural Tube ◽  
Neural Crest Cells ◽  
Paraxial Mesoderm ◽  
Dorsal Neural Tube ◽  
Progressive Loss ◽  
Crest Cell ◽  
Rostral Part

We have previously shown that axial-dependent delamination of specified neural crest cells is triggered by BMP4 and negatively regulated by noggin. Increasing activity of BMP4 towards the rostral part of the axis is achieved by graded expression of noggin in the dorsal neural tube, the latter being high opposite unsegmented mesoderm, and progressively downregulated facing epithelial and dissociating somites, coinciding in time and axial level with initial delamination of neural crest cells (Sela-Donenfeld, D. and Kalcheim, C. (1999) Development 126, 4749–4762). Here we report that this gradient-like expression of noggin in the neuroepithelium is controlled by the paraxial mesoderm. Deletion of epithelial somites prevented normal downregulation of noggin in the neural tube. Furthermore, partial ablation of either the dorsal half or only the dorsomedial portion of epithelial somites was sufficient to maintain high noggin expression. In contrast, deletion of the segmental plate had no effect. These data suggest that the dorsomedial region of developing somites produces an inhibitor of noggin transcription in the dorsal neural tube. Consistent with this notion, grafting dissociating somites in the place of the unsegmented mesoderm precociously downregulated the expression of noggin and triggered premature emigration of neural crest progenitors from the caudal neural tube. Thus, opposite the unsegmented mesoderm, where noggin expression is high in the neural tube, BMP4 is inactive and neural crest cells fail to delaminate. Upon somitogenesis and further dissociation, the dorsomedial portion of the somite inhibits noggin transcription. Progressive loss of noggin activity releases BMP4 from inhibition, resulting in crest cell emigration. We propose that this inhibitory crosstalk between paraxial mesoderm and neural primordium controls the timing of neural crest delamination to match the development of a suitable mesodermal substrate for subsequent crest migration.

scholarly journals Vital dye labelling of Xenopus laevis trunk neural crest reveals multipotency and novel pathways of migration

Development ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 118 (2) ◽  
pp. 363-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Collazo ◽  
M. Bronner-Fraser ◽  
S.E. Fraser
Keyword(s):  
Xenopus Laevis ◽  
Neural Crest ◽  
Neural Tube ◽  
Single Cells ◽  
Neural Crest Cell ◽  
Neural Crest Cells ◽  
Pigment Cells ◽  
Spinal Ganglia ◽  
Posterior Portion ◽  
Precise Position

Although the Xenopus embryo has served as an important model system for both molecular and cellular studies of vertebrate development, comparatively little is known about its neural crest. Here, we take advantage of the ease of manipulation and relative transparency of Xenopus laevis embryos to follow neural crest cell migration and differentiation in living embryos. We use two techniques to study the lineage and migratory patterns of frog neural crest cells: (1) injections of DiI or lysinated rhodamine dextran (LRD) into small populations of neural crest cells to follow movement and (2) injections of LRD into single cells to follow cell lineage. By using non-invasive approaches that allow observations in living embryos and control of the time and position of labelling, we have been able to expand upon the results of previous grafting experiments. Migration and differentiation of the labelled cells were observed over time in individual living embryos, and later in sections to determine precise position and morphology. Derivatives populated by the neural crest are the fins, pigment stripes, spinal ganglia, adrenal medulla, pronephric duct, enteric nuclei and the posterior portion of the dorsal aorta. In the rostral to mid-trunk levels, most neural crest cells migrate along two paths: a dorsal pathway into the fin, followed by presumptive fin cells, and a ventral pathway along the neural tube and notochord, followed by presumptive pigment, sensory ganglion, sympathetic ganglion and adrenal medullary cells. In the caudal trunk, two additional paths were noted. One group of cells moves circumferentially within the fin, in an arc from dorsal to ventral; another progresses ventrally to the anus and subsequently populates the ventral fin. By labelling individual precursor cells, we find that neural tube and neural crest cells often share a common precursor. The majority of clones contain labelled progeny cells in the dorsal fin. The remainder have progeny in multiple derivatives including spinal ganglion cells, pigment cells, enteric cells, fin cells and/or neural tube cells in all combinations, suggesting that many premigratory Xenopus neural crest precursors are multipotent.

The role of the neural crest in cardiac development

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura A. Dyer ◽  
Margaret L. Kirby
Keyword(s):  
Neural Crest ◽  
Neural Tube ◽  
Heart Development ◽  
Cardiac Development ◽  
Signalling Pathways ◽  
Pharyngeal Arches ◽  
Cardiac Neural Crest ◽  
Final Destination ◽  
Dorsal Neural Tube

The cardiac neural crest (CNC) plays pivotal roles in numerous steps of cardiac development. Every aspect of the CNC cell’s lifespan is highly orchestrated, from its induction in the dorsal neural tube to its migration to its differentiation at its final destination. During migration, CNC cells are affected by their environment and simultaneously modulate the extra-cellular milieu through which they migrate. In the pharyngeal arches, CNC cells repattern the originally symmetrical arch arteries, producing the great arteries. Because the cardiac neural crest is essential for many aspects of heart development, it is unsurprising that human CNC-related syndromes have severe phenotypes. This chapter describes how CNC cells are formed and contribute to their final destinations. Essential signalling pathways are presented in the context of CNC development, and CNC-related syndromes are included to highlight this population’s broad importance during development.

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