Tissue Interactions in Neural Crest Cell Development and Disease

Science ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 341 (6148) ◽  
pp. 860-863 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshiko Takahashi ◽  
Douglas Sipp ◽  
Hideki Enomoto

The neural crest is a transient population of migratory cells in the embryo that gives rise to a wide variety of different cell types, including those of the peripheral nervous system. Dysfunction of neural crest cells (NCCs) is associated with multiple diseases, such as neuroblastoma and Hirschsprung disease. Recent studies have identified NCC behaviors during their migration and differentiation, with implications for their contributions to development and disease. Here, we describe how interactions between cells of the neural crest and lineages such as the vascular system, as well as those involving environmental signals and microbial pathogens, are critically important in determining the roles played by these cells.

2001 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 533-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELISABETH DUPIN ◽  
CARLA REAL ◽  
NICOLE LeDOUARIN

How the considerable diversity of neural crest (NC)-derived cell types arises in the vertebrate embryo has long been a key question in developmental biology. The pluripotency and plasticity of differentiation of the NC cell population has been fully documented and it is well-established that environmental cues play an important role in patterning the NC derivatives throughout the body. Over the past decade, in vivo and in vitro cellular approaches have unravelled the differentiation potentialities of single NC cells and led to the discovery of NC stem cells. Although it is clear that the final fate of individual cells is in agreement with their final position within the embryo, it has to be stressed that the NC cells that reach target sites are pluripotent and further restrictions occur only late in development. It is therefore a heterogenous collection of cells that is submitted to local environmental signals in the various NC-derived structures. Several factors were thus identified which favor the development of subsets of NC-derived cells in vitro. Moreover, the strategy of gene targeting in mouse has led at identifying new molecules able to control one or several aspects of NC cell differentiation in vivo. Endothelin peptides (and endothelin receptors) are among those. The conjunction of recent data obtained in mouse and avian embryos and reviewed here contributes to a better understanding of the action of the endothelin signaling pathway in the emergence and stability of NC-derived cell phenotypes.


Development ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 121 (2) ◽  
pp. 525-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.A. Selleck ◽  
M. Bronner-Fraser

We have investigated the lineage and tissue interactions that result in avian neural crest cell formation from the ectoderm. Presumptive neural plate was grafted adjacent to non-neural ectoderm in whole embryo culture to examine the role of tissue interactions in ontogeny of the neural crest. Our results show that juxtaposition of non-neural ectoderm and presumptive neural plate induces the formation of neural crest cells. Quail/chick recombinations demonstrate that both the prospective neural plate and the prospective epidermis can contribute to the neural crest. When similar neural plate/epidermal confrontations are performed in tissue culture to look at the formation of neural crest derivatives, juxtaposition of epidermis with either early (stages 4–5) or later (stages 6–10) neural plate results in the generation of both melanocytes and sympathoadrenal cells. Interestingly, neural plates isolated from early stages form no neural crest cells, whereas those isolated later give rise to melanocytes but not crest-derived sympathoadrenal cells. Single cell lineage analysis was performed to determine the time at which the neural crest lineage diverges from the epidermal lineage and to elucidate the timing of neural plate/epidermis interactions during normal development. Our results from stage 8 to 10+ embryos show that the neural plate/neural crest lineage segregates from the epidermis around the time of neural tube closure, suggesting that neural induction is still underway at open neural plate stages.


Development ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 109 (4) ◽  
pp. 925-934 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.C. Smith-Thomas ◽  
A.R. Johnson ◽  
J.W. Fawcett

Amongst the many cell types that differentiate from migratory neural crest cells are the Schwann cells of the peripheral nervous system. While it has been demonstrated that Schwann cells will not fully differentiate unless in contact with neurons, the factors that cause neural crest cells to enter the differentiative pathway that leads to Schwann cells are unknown. In a previous paper (Development 105: 251, 1989), we have demonstrated that a proportion of morphologically undifferentiated neural crest cells express the Schwann cell markers 217c and NGF receptor, and later, as they acquire the bipolar morphology typical of Schwann cells in culture, express S-100 and laminin. In the present study, we have grown axons from embryonic retina on neural crest cultures to see whether this has an effect on the differentiation of neural crest cells into Schwann cells. After 4 to 6 days of co-culture, many more cells had acquired bipolar morphology and S-100 staining than in controls with no retinal explant, and most of these cells were within 200 microns of an axon, though not necessarily in contact with axons. However, the number of cells expressing the earliest Schwann cell markers 217c and NGF receptor was not affected by the presence of axons. We conclude that axons produce a factor, which is probably diffusible, and which makes immature Schwann cells differentiate. The factor does not, however, influence the entry of neural crest cells into the earliest stages of the Schwann cell differentiative pathway.


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.


2013 ◽  
Vol 113 (5) ◽  
pp. 505-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Escot ◽  
Cédrine Blavet ◽  
Sonja Härtle ◽  
Jean-Loup Duband ◽  
Claire Fournier-Thibault

Rationale: Cardiac neural crest cells (NCs) contribute to heart morphogenesis by giving rise to a variety of cell types from mesenchyme of the outflow tract, ventricular septum, and semilunar valves to neurons of the cardiac ganglia and smooth muscles of the great arteries. Failure in cardiac NC development results in outflow and ventricular septation defects commonly observed in congenital heart diseases. Cardiac NCs derive from the vagal neural tube, which also gives rise to enteric NCs that colonize the gut; however, so far, molecular mechanisms segregating these 2 populations and driving cardiac NC migration toward the heart have remained elusive. Objective: Stromal-derived factor-1 (SDF1) is a chemokine that mediates oriented migration of multiple embryonic cells and mice deficient for Sdf1 or its receptors, Cxcr4 and Cxcr7 , exhibit ventricular septum defects, raising the possibility that SDF1 might selectively drive cardiac NC migration toward the heart via a chemotactic mechanism. Methods and Results : We show in the chick embryo that Sdf1 expression is tightly coordinated with the progression of cardiac NCs expressing Cxcr4 . Cxcr4 loss-of-function causes delayed migration and enhanced death of cardiac NCs, whereas Sdf1 misexpression results in their diversion from their normal pathway, indicating that SDF1 acts as a chemoattractant for cardiac NCs. These alterations of SDF1 signaling result in severe cardiovascular defects. Conclusions: These data identify Sdf1 and its receptor Cxcr4 as candidate genes responsible for cardiac congenital pathologies in human.


eLife ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debadrita Bhattacharya ◽  
Megan Rothstein ◽  
Ana Paula Azambuja ◽  
Marcos Simoes-Costa

A crucial step in cell differentiation is the silencing of developmental programs underlying multipotency. While much is known about how lineage-specific genes are activated to generate distinct cell types, the mechanisms driving suppression of stemness are far less understood. To address this, we examined the regulation of the transcriptional network that maintains progenitor identity in avian neural crest cells. Our results show that a regulatory circuit formed by Wnt, Lin28a and let-7 miRNAs controls the deployment and the subsequent silencing of the multipotency program in a position-dependent manner. Transition from multipotency to differentiation is determined by the topological relationship between the migratory cells and the dorsal neural tube, which acts as a Wnt-producing stem cell niche. Our findings highlight a mechanism that rapidly silences complex regulatory programs, and elucidate how transcriptional networks respond to positional information during cell differentiation.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald F Newgreen ◽  
James M Osborne ◽  
Dongcheng Zhang

ABSTRACTSkip segment Hirschsprung disease is a difficult to explain human enteric neuropathy where a ganglionated region lies within a region of total colonic aganglionosis.. Recently, trans-mesenteric migration was described in the mouse intestine whereby neural crest cells migrate via the mesentery across a U-shape gut loop from the midgut to the hindgut: this could explain skip segment Hirschsprung disease. To investigate this, human intestinal growth parameters were derived from published sources and correlated with enteric neural crest cell migration. These processes were then simulated using agent based mathematical models scaled to human intestinal growth. A Hirschsprung-associated slowing of migration was imposed and trans-mesenteric migration was allowed. From the developmental anatomy we conclude that trans-mesenteric migration is unlikely in normal human embryogenesis, but with a Hirschsprung-associated slowing of enteric neural crest cell migration it could occur at Carnegie stages 17 and 18. By varying the division rate of enteric neural crest agents we could reproduce full colonisation, short segment, long segment and skip segment Hirschsprung and hypoganglionic segments.Summary StatementSkip segment Hirschsprung disease in humans challenges current explanations. Mathematical modelling shows how this birth defect could develop.


Author(s):  
Julia Schrankl ◽  
Michaela Fuchs ◽  
Katharina Broeker ◽  
Christoph Daniel ◽  
Armin Kurtz ◽  
...  

The kidneys are an important target for angiotensin II (ANG II). In the adult kidneys the effects of ANG II are mediated mainly by ANG II type 1 (AT1) receptors. AT1 receptor expression has been reported for a variety of different cell types within the kidneys, suggesting a broad spectrum of actions for ANG II. Since there have been heterogeneous results in the literature regarding the intrarenal distribution of AT1 receptors, this study aimed to obtain a comprehensive overview about the localization of AT1 receptor expression in mouse, rat and human kidneys. Using the cell specific and high-resolution RNAscope technique, we performed colocalization studies with various cell markers to specifically discriminate between different segments of the tubular and vascular system. Overall we found a similar pattern of AT1 mRNA expression in mouse, rat and human kidneys. AT1 receptors were detected in mesangial cells and renin-producing cells. In addition, AT1 mRNA was found in interstitial cells of the cortex and outer medulla. In rodents, late afferent and early efferent arterioles expressed AT1 receptor mRNA, but larger vessels of the investigated species showed no AT1 expression. Tubular expression of AT1 mRNA was species-dependent with a strong expression in proximal tubules of mice while expression was undetectable in human tubular cells. These findings suggest that the (juxta)glomerular area and the tubulointerstitium are conserved expression sites for AT1 receptors across species and might present the main target sites for ANG II in adult human and rodent kidneys.


2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (19) ◽  
pp. 6086-6091 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Wiszniak ◽  
Francesca E. Mackenzie ◽  
Peter Anderson ◽  
Samuela Kabbara ◽  
Christiana Ruhrberg ◽  
...  

Jaw morphogenesis depends on the growth of Meckel’s cartilage during embryogenesis. However, the cell types and signals that promote chondrocyte proliferation for Meckel’s cartilage growth are poorly defined. Here we show that neural crest cells (NCCs) and their derivatives provide an essential source of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) to enhance jaw vascularization and stabilize the major mandibular artery. We further show in two independent mouse models that blood vessels promote Meckel’s cartilage extension. Coculture experiments of arterial tissue with NCCs or chondrocytes demonstrated that NCC-derived VEGF promotes blood vessel growth and that blood vessels secrete factors to instruct chondrocyte proliferation. Computed tomography and X-ray scans of patients with hemifacial microsomia also showed that jaw hypoplasia correlates with mandibular artery dysgenesis. We conclude that cranial NCCs and their derivatives provide an essential source of VEGF to support blood vessel growth in the developing jaw, which in turn is essential for normal chondrocyte proliferation, and therefore jaw extension.


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