Pard3 regulates contact between neural crest cells and the timing of Schwann cell differentiation but is not essential for neural crest migration or myelination

摘要

BackgroundSchwann cells, which arise from the neural crest, are the myelinating glia of the peripheral nervous system. During development neural crest and their Schwann cell derivatives engage in a sequence of events that comprise delamination from the neuroepithelium, directed migration, axon ensheathment and myelin membrane synthesis. At each step neural crest and Schwann cells are polarized, implying important roles for molecules that create cellular asymmetries. In this work we investigated the possibility that one polarity protein, Pard3, contributes to the polarized features of neural crest and Schwann cells that are associated with directed migration and myelination.