Although retinoic acid (RA) has been implicated as one of the diffusible signals regulating forebrain development, patterning of the forebrain has not been analyzed in detail in knockout mouse mutants deficient in embryonic RA synthesis. We show that the retinaldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (RALDH2) enzyme is responsible for RA synthesis in the mouse craniofacial region and forebrain between the 8- an...

Many genes involved in brain development have been associated with human neurodevelopmental disorders, but underlying pathophysiological mechanisms remain undefined. Human genetic and mouse behavioral analyses suggest that ENGRAILED-2 (EN2) contributes to neurodevelopmental disorders, especially autism spectrum disorder. In mouse, En2 exhibits dynamic spatiotemporal expression in embryonic mid-...

We previously reported that sonic hedgehog (Shh) induces the differentiation of rat ventral forebrain neurons expressing a novel marker, EVF-1 [Development 125 (1998) 5079]. In this report, we show that EVF-1 is a novel, developmentally regulated, non-coding RNA, with no homology to other known non-coding RNA sequences. Sequence analysis, in vitro translation, and comparison of the rat and mous...

During cerebral cortical development, excitatory glutamatergic projection neurons are generated from neural stem cells intrinsic to the early embryonic cortical ventricular zone by a process of radial migration, whereas most inhibitory gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic interneurons and oligodendrocytes (OLs) appear to be elaborated from ventral forebrain stem cells that initially undergo tang...

Noggin1 is a famous embryonic neural inducer that can sequester TGF-beta cytokines of Bone Morphogenetic Protein family, thereby antagonizing Smad1-dependent signaling pathway activity. During early embryogenesis noggin1 executes two major biological functions: conversion of embryonic mesoderm into skeletal muscles (dorsalization) and of ectoderm into neural tissue (neuralization). Anterior neu...

Noggin1 is a famous embryonic neural inducer that can sequester TGF-beta cytokines of Bone Morphogenetic Protein family, thereby antagonizing Smad1-dependent signaling pathway activity. During early embryogenesis noggin1 executes two major biological functions: conversion of embryonic mesoderm into skeletal muscles (dorsalization) and of ectoderm into neural tissue (neuralization). Anterior neu...

Using a differential subtractive hybridization cloning procedure we have recently identified the AP-2.2 gene as a novel early retinoic acid-induced gene in murine P19 embryonal carcinoma cells. We have also shown that the AP-2.2 protein, which is highly related to the AP-2 transcription factor, can activate transcription when bound to an AP-2 consensus binding site [Oulad-Abdelghani et al. (199...

NG2-expressing glia (NG2 cells, polydendrocytes) appear in the embryonic brain, expand perinatally, and persist widely throughout the gray and white matter of the mature central nervous system. We have previously reported that NG2 cells generate oligodendrocytes in both gray and white matter and a subset of protoplasmic astrocytes in the gray matter of the ventral forebrain and spinal cord. To ...

Noggin1 is a famous embryonic neural inducer that can sequester TGF-beta cytokines of Bone Morphogenetic Protein family, thereby antagonizing Smad1-dependent signaling pathway activity. During early embryogenesis noggin1 executes two major biological functions: conversion of embryonic mesoderm into skeletal muscles (dorsalization) and of ectoderm into neural tissue (neuralization). Anterior neu...

Neural tube defects (NTDs) are some of the most common birth defects observed in humans. The incidence of NTDs can be reduced by peri-conceptional folic acid supplementation alone and reduced even further by supplementation with folic acid plus a multivitamin. Here, we present evidence that iron maybe an important nutrient necessary for normal development of the neural tube. Following implantat...