Dynamic behaviors of the non-neural ectoderm during mammalian cranial neural tube closure

摘要

Theembryonicbrainandspinalcordinitiallyformthroughtheprocessofneuraltubeclosure(NTC).NTCisthoughttobehighlysimilarbetweenrodentsandhumans,andstudiesofmousegeneticmutantshavegreatlyincreasedourunderstandingofthemolecularbasisofNTCwithrelevanceforhumanneuraltubedefects.Inaddition,studiesusingamphibianandchickembryoshaveshedlightintothecellularandtissuedynamicsunderlyingNTC.However,thedynamicsofmammalianNTChasbeendifficulttostudyduetoeminutero/emdevelopmentuntilrecentlywhenadvancesinmouseembryoemexvivo/emculturetechniquesalongwithconfocalmicroscopyhaveallowedforimagingofmouseNTCinrealtime.Here,wehaveperformedliveimagingofmouseembryoswithaparticularfocusonthenon-neuralectoderm(NNE).PreviousstudiesinmultiplemodelsystemshavefoundthattheNNEisimportantforproperNTC,butlittleisknownaboutthebehaviorofthesecellsduringmammalianNTC.HereweutilizedaNNE-specificgeneticlabelingsystemtoassessNNEdynamicsduringmurineNTCandidentifieddifferentNNEcellbehaviorsasthecranialregionundergoesNTC.TheseresultsbringvaluablenewinsightintoregionaldifferencesincellularbehaviorduringNTCthatmaybedrivenbydifferentmolecularregulatorsandwhichmayunderliethevariouspositionaldisruptionsofNTCobservedinhumanswithneuraltubedefects./p/div