4D Imaging of the EMT
The neural crest is a population of cells that undergoes an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transformation (EMT) in the dorsal neural tube epithelium to produce migratory neural crest cells.
The direct observation of individual neural tube cells undergoing an EMT has the potential to reveal important and novel insights into the mode and mechanisms of the EMT. These
mechanisms may include loss of cell adhesions, asymmetric localization of cellular components, and/or the initiation of migration. We are currently imaging the neural crest EMT at
high-resolution using time-lapse confocal microscopy of fluorescently-labeled dorsal neural tube cells in avian embryo slice cultures. Thus far, our observations suggest that there is
much more to the neural crest trunk EMT than simply losing cell-cell adhesion and that additional molecular mechanisms must be involved to truly “transform” epithelial neural tube cells
into mesenchymal neural crest cells.
|
