Cellular and molecular basis for pathfinding at the vagal axial level
Neural crest cells emigrate from the neural tube and give rise to numerous derivatives, each of which migrates and localizes to specific sites during embryogenesis. Our long-term goal
is to determine how these various derivatives come to occupy the correct position in the embryo. Our current model suggests that neural crest cells are prespecified prior to migrating
away from the neural tube and that this specification confers open them unique pathfinding abilities. We are evaluating whether this pathfinding model applies to all neural crest. To
do this we are assessing the developmental bias and pathfinding of neural crest cells at the at the vagal axial level which migrate away from the neural tube in three distinct waves
and contribute to the heart, nervous and pigmentary systems.
|
