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Homocysteine enhances cardiac neural crest cell attachment in vitro by increasing intracellular calcium levels
Author(s) -
Heidenreich David J.,
Reedy Mark V.,
Brauer Philip R.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
developmental dynamics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.634
H-Index - 141
eISSN - 1097-0177
pISSN - 1058-8388
DOI - 10.1002/dvdy.21644
Subject(s) - intracellular , ionomycin , biology , calcium in biology , microbiology and biotechnology , bapta , neural crest , cell , in vitro , inositol , endocrinology , biochemistry , receptor , embryo
Elevated homocysteine (Hcys) increases the risk of neurocristopathies. Previous studies show Hcys inhibits neural crest (NC) cell migration in vivo. However, the mechanisms responsible for this effect are unknown. Here, we evaluated the effect of Hcys on NC cell attachment in vitro and determined if any of the effects were due to altered Ca 2+ signaling. We found Hcys enhanced NC cell attachment in a dose and substrate‐dependent manner. Ionomycin mimicked the effect of Hcys while BAPTA‐AM and 2‐APB blocked the effect of Hcys on NC attachment. In contrast, inhibitors of plasma membrane Ca 2+ channels had no effect on NC attachment. Hcys also increased the emission of the intracellular Ca 2+ ‐sensitive probe, Fluo‐4. These results show Hcys alters NC attachment by triggering an increase in intracellular Ca 2+ possibly by generating inositol triphosphate. Hence, the teratogenic effect ascribed to Hcys may be due to perturbation of intracellular Ca 2+ signaling. Developmental Dynamics 237:2117–2128, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.