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ISDN2012_0276: From pluripotent stem cells to cortical circuits
Author(s) -
Vanderhaeghen Pierre
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
international journal of developmental neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.761
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1873-474X
pISSN - 0736-5748
DOI - 10.1016/j.ijdevneu.2012.10.098
Subject(s) - induced pluripotent stem cell , citation , library science , neuroscience , psychology , computer science , biology , embryonic stem cell , genetics , gene
sensory neurons located in three cranial ganglia (geniculate, petrosal and nodose), and integrated in the hindbrain by relay sensory neurons located in the nucleus of the solitary tract. Visceral sensory ganglia and the nucleus of the solitary tract all depend for their formation on the pan-visceral homeodomain transcription factor Phox2b, also required in efferent neurons to the viscera – including pasrasympathetic and enteric neurons, preand postganglionic. We now show, by genetically tracing Phox2b+ cells, that in the absence of the protein, many visceral sensory neurons (firstand second-order) survive. However, they adopt a fate – including molecular signature, cell positions and axonal projections – akin to that of somatic sensory neurons (firstand second-order), located in the trigeminal ganglia and sensory nuclei, that convey touch and pain sensation from the oro-facial region. Thus, the cranial sensory pathways, somatic and visceral, are related, and Phox2b serves as a developmental switch from the former to the latter. This switch is realized, at least in part, by repression of the pansomatosensory determinant Brn3a. Evidence will also be presented for the deep evolutionary roots of the Phox2b/Brn3a-based viscerosomatic duality of the vertebrate brain.