The neural crest generates multiple cell types during embryogenesis but the mechanisms regulating neural crest cell diversification are incompletely understood. Previous studies using mutant zebrafish indicated that foxd3 and tfap2a function early and differentially in the development of neural crest sublineages. Here, we show that the simultaneous loss of foxd3 and tfap2a function in zebrafish...

During the emergence of neural crest cells from the neural tube, the expression of cadherins dynamically changes. In the chicken embryo, the early neural tube expresses two cadherins, N-cadherin and cadherin-6B (cad6B), in the dorsal-most region where neural crest cells are generated. The expression of these two cadherins is, however, downregulated in the neural crest cells migrating from the n...

Neural crest cells migrate extensively and give rise to diverse cell types, including cells of the sensory and autonomic nervous systems. A major unanswered question concerning the neural crest is when and how the neural crest cells become determined to adopt a particular fate. We have explored the developmental potential of trunk neural crest cells in avian embryos by microinjecting a vital dy...

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 transcriptio...

diagnosis, degree of surgical resection or prior treatment and subsequent development of extraneural metastases was found [4]. The exact route of extraneural metastases is not known, but in the vast majority metastases occurred in the wake of craniotomy, suggesting iatrogenic vascular seeding [3]. Typically, extraneural metastases of ependymoma occur in the lungs, pleura, and lymph nodes while ...

Cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying differences in beak morphology likely involve interactions among multiple embryonic populations. We exchanged neural crest cells destined to participate in beak morphogenesis between two anatomically distinct species. Quail neural crest cells produced quail beaks in duck hosts and duck neural crest produced duck bills in quail hosts. These transforma...

The availability of naturally occurring and engineered mutations in mice which affect the neural crest makes the mouse embryo an important experimental system for studying neural crest cell differentiation. Here, we determine the normal developmental potential of neural crest cells by performing in situ cell lineage analysis in the mouse by microinjecting lysinated rhodamine dextran (LRD) into ...

Neuroblastoma is a peripheral neural system tumor that originates from the neural crest and is the most common and deadly tumor of infancy. Here we show that neuroblastoma harbors frequent mutations of genes controlling the Rac/Rho signaling cascade important for proper migration and differentiation of neural crest cells during neuritogenesis. RhoA is activated in tumors from neuroblastoma pati...

We characterized Xenopus Zic5 which belongs to a novel class of the Zic family. Zic5 is more specifically expressed in the prospective neural crest than other Zic genes. Overexpression of Zic5 in embryos led to ectopic expression of the early neural crest markers, Xsna and Xslu, with the loss of epidermal marker expression. In Zic5-overexpressing animal cap explants, there was marked induction ...