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Lack of motor neuron differentiation is an intrinsic property of the mouse secondary neural tube
Author(s) -
Shum Alisa S.W.,
Tang Louisa S.C.,
Copp Andrew J.,
Roelink Henk
Publication year - 2010
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.22457
Subject(s) - neurulation , neural tube , biology , neural fold , neural plate , ectoderm , neuroepithelial cell , anatomy , motor neuron , exencephaly , organogenesis , floor plate , neuron , microbiology and biotechnology , notochord , neuroscience , neural stem cell , embryo , embryogenesis , spinal cord , gastrulation , genetics , stem cell , pregnancy , gestation , teratology , gene
The cranial part of the amniote neural tube is formed by folding and fusion of the ectoderm‐derived neural plate (primary neurulation). After posterior neuropore closure, however, the caudal neural tube is formed by cavitation of tail bud mesenchyme (secondary neurulation). In mouse embryos, the secondary neural tube expresses several genes important in early patterning and induction, in restricted domains similar to the primary neural tube, yet it does not undergo neuronal differentiation, but subsequently degenerates. Although the secondary neural tube, isolated from surrounding tissues, is responsive to exogenous Sonic Hedgehog proteins in vitro, motor neuron differentiation is never observed. This cannot be attributed to the properties of the secondary notochord, since it is able to induce motor neuron differentiation in naive chick neural plate explants. Taken together, these results support that the lack of motor neuron differentiation is an intrinsic property of the mouse secondary neural tube. Developmental Dynamics 239:3192–3203, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.