Recent work from Agarwala et al. has uncovered exquisite ventral patterning in the mesencephalon. Using electroporation in chicks, they show that ectopic expression of Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) in dorsal mesencephalon can recapitulate this patterning in its entirety. These results are discussed in the context of the purported role of Shh as a morphogen.

We found that E-cadherin (uvomorulin) is transiently expressed in restricted regions of the metencephalon, mesencephalon and diencephalon of mouse embryonic brain. This expression first occurred in parts of the mesencephalon and diencephalon at around E9.5, and subsequently extended to the primordia of cerebellum, the dorsal midline of mesencephalon and some other regions of the embryonic brain...

EphA7 is a key molecule in regulating the development of the dien- and mesencephalon. To get insight into the mechanism of how EphA7 gene expression is regulated during the dorsal specification of the dien- and mesencephalon, we investigated the cis-acting regulatory sequence driving EphA7 to the dorsal midline of the dien- and mesencephalon. Transgenic LacZ reporter analysis, using overlapping...

background calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase iiα (camkiiα) may modulate the function of mu-opioid receptors by phosphorylation and therefore, be involved in development of morphine-induced analgesic tolerance. objectives the current study aimed to examine changes in gene expression of camkiiα in the lumbosacral cord and midbrain during induction of morphine analgesic tolerance. materi...

Eph receptors and their ligands ephrins have been implicated in guiding the directed migration of neural crest cells (NCCs). In this study, we found that Wnt1-Cre-mediated expression of ephrinA5-Fc along the dorsal midline of the dien- and mesencephalon resulted in severe craniofacial malformation of mouse embryo. Interestingly, expression of cephalic NCC markers decreased significantly in the ...

The aim of this study was to establish a cellular system to investigate the requirement for cell surface and diffusible molecules in the differentiation of fetal mesencephalic cells toward the dopamine lineage. Toward this end, we immortalized rat embryonic day 14 (E14) mesencephalon with a regulatable retroviral vector encoding v-myc. The stably transduced cells were pooled and designated as V...

Specification and differentiation of neural precursors into dopaminergic neurons within the ventral mesencephalon has been subject to much attention due to the implication of dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson's disease and the perspective of generating sources of therapeutically active cells to be used for cell replacement therapy for the disease. However, despite intensive research efforts, li...

Neuronal migration, a key event during brain development, remains largely unexplored in the mesencephalon, where dopaminergic (DA) and GABA neurons constitute two major neuronal populations. Here we study the migrational trajectories of DA and GABA neurons and show that they occupy ventral mesencephalic territory in a temporally and spatially specific manner. Our results from the Pitx3-deficien...