Analysis of developmentally homogeneous neural crest cell populations in vitro (original) (raw)

Suppression of the melanogenic potential of migrating neural crest-derived cells by the branchial arches

The Anatomical record, 2002

The development of melanocytes from neural crest-derived precursors that migrate along the dorsolateral pathway has been attributed to the selection of this route by cells that are fate-restricted to the melanocyte lineage. Alternatively, melanocytes could arise from nonspecified cells that develop in response to signals encountered while these cells migrate, or at their final destinations. In most animals, the bowel, which is colonized by crest-derived cells that migrate through the caudal branchial arches, contains no melanocytes; however, the enteric microenvironment does not prevent melanocytes from developing from crest-derived precursors placed experimentally into the bowel wall. To test the hypothesis that the branchial arches remove the melanogenic potential from the crest-derived population that colonizes the gut, the Silky fowl (in which the viscera are pigmented) was studied. Sources of crest included Silky fowl and quail vagal and truncal neural folds/tubes, which were c...

The influence of neural tube-derived factors on differentiation of neural crest cells in vitro. I. Histochemical study on the appearance of adrenergic cells

The Journal of Neuroscience, 1985

The neural crest gives rise to numerous derivatives including adrenergic and cholinergic neurons, supportive cells of the nervous system, and melanocytes. In tissue culture, neural crest cells explanted from both cranial and trunk regions were found to differentiate into adrenergic neuroblasts or into pigmented cells when grown in medium containing 10% chick embryo extract. When the embryo extract concentration was lowered to 2%, no catecholamine-containing cells (as assayed by formaldehyde-induced fluorescence) were detected, although pigment cells were observed. These results suggest the presence of a factor(s) in embryo extract that promotes or supports adrenergic differentiation. To examine the possible tissue sources of this factor(s), neural tube, notochord, or somite cells were used to condition medium containing 2% embryo extract. When neural crest cells were grown in medium conditioned by neural tube cells, adrenergic neuroblasts were observed in all cultures. However, somite-and notochord conditioned medium did not support adrenergic differentiation. In addition, medium supplemented with extracts derived from central nervous system components did support adrenergic expression, whereas medium supplemented with embryo extract from which the neural tissue was removed did not. Direct contact with neural tube cell ghost membranes was unable to substitute for high embryo extract concentrations or for neural tube-conditioned medium. These results suggest that the neural tube makes a diffusible factor(s) that will support adrenergic differentiation of neural crest cells. Neural crest cells are the precursors to most of the peripheral nervous system and a number of other structures in vertebrate embryos. Prior to migration, the neural crest appears to be a

Neural crest progenitors and stem cells

Comptes Rendus Biologies, 2007

In the vertebrate embryo, multiple cell types originate from a common structure, the neural crest (NC), which forms at the dorsal tips of the neural epithelium. The NC gives rise to migratory cells that colonise a wide range of embryonic tissues and later differentiate into neurones and glial cells of the peripheral nervous system (PNS), pigment cells (melanocytes) in the skin and endocrine cells in the adrenal and thyroid glands. In the head and the neck, the NC also yields mesenchymal cells that form craniofacial cartilages, bones, dermis, adipose tissue, and vascular smooth muscle cells. The NC is therefore a model system to study cell diversification during embryogenesis and phenotype maintenance in the adult.

Melanoblast development coincides with the late emerging cells from the dorsal neural tube in turtle Trachemys scripta

Scientific Reports, 2017

Ectothermal reptiles have internal pigmentation, which is not seen in endothermal birds and mammals. Here we show that the development of the dorsal neural tube-derived melanoblasts in turtle Trachemys scripta is regulated by similar mechanisms as in other amniotes, but significantly later in development, during the second phase of turtle trunk neural crest emigration. The development of melanoblasts coincided with a morphological change in the dorsal neural tube between stages mature G15 and G16. The melanoblasts delaminated and gathered in the carapacial staging area above the neural tube at G16, and differentiated into pigment-forming melanocytes during in vitro culture. The Mitf-positive melanoblasts were not restricted to the dorsolateral pathway as in birds and mammals but were also present medially through the somites similarly to ectothermal anamniotes. This matched a lack of environmental barrier dorsal and lateral to neural tube and the somites that is normally formed by PNAbinding proteins that block entry to medial pathways. PNA-binding proteins may also participate in the patterning of the carapacial pigmentation as both the migratory neural crest cells and pigment localized only to PNA-free areas. In cold-blooded reptiles, such as turtles, the pigmentation and its patterning in the integument facilitates cryptic coloration, thermoregulation, and social signaling 1. All vertebrates share a single type of pigment cell: the neural crest-derived melanocyte that accumulates melanin 1,2. The neural crest is a transient, multipotent and migratory cell population, and its conserved gene regulatory network evolved more than 500 million years ago in a common vertebrate ancestor 3,4. The neural crest develops along the dorsal neural tube, and the location along the axis and the migratory pathway that the neural crest cells follow affect the types of derivatives arising from the multipotent neural crest cells 5,6. Trunk neural crest generates, for instance, neuronal and glial cells of the peripheral nervous system and melanocytes. The medially migrating trunk neural crest cells (NCCs) become glial or neuronal cells. Trunk NCCs that become melanocytes are among the last neural crest cells to emerge from the trunk region, and they migrate along a dorsolateral route between the surface ectoderm and the somite 7-9. Melanoblasts, the progenitor cells of melanocytes, arise from the pluripotent trunk NCCs that become gradually fate-restricted; the pluripotent trunk NCCs generate bipotent neural-glial and glial-melanogenic precursor cells. The fate-restricted bipotent glial-melanogenic precursor cells divide to make melanoblasts 8. In ectothermal anamniotes (fish and amphibians) melanoblasts can travel along the medial pathway, and in ectothermal amniotes (reptiles) extracutaneous melanoblasts are found in locations that parallel the locations of medially migrated neural crest cells 8,10-12. The development and fate of the neural crest cell-derived melanoblasts results from a complex gene regulatory network that is highly conserved among vertebrates 3,8. A forkhead transcription factor FoxD3 together with SoxE subgroup transcription factors Sox9 and Sox10 specify dorsal neuroepithelial cells as neural crest cells 13 .

Migratory Activities of Neural Crest-Derived Pigment Cells in Vitro

Jurnal Sains Mipa Universitas Lampung, 2012

Neural crest cells give rise to a diversity of cell types, including all dermal and epidermal pigment cells. Although many mechanisms control neural crest cell development, specific factors that affect the ability of each neural crest cell to migrate remain unknown. This research presents in vitro studies designed to determine the mechanisms involved in migration of neural crest-derived pigment cells originating from different axial levels in wild type axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum). The present study provides evidence for the contribution of various cellular activities such as migration rate and degree of persistence of movement to the region-specific responses observed in neural crest-derived pigment cell lineages.