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Dynamic imaging of cardiac precursor cell movements during early avian heart morphogenesis
Author(s) -
Aleksandrova Anastasiia,
Czirok Andras,
Lansford Rusty D,
Szabo Andras,
Little Charles D,
Rongish Brenda J
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.181.3
Subject(s) - morphogenesis , cardiac cell , cardiology , heart development , medicine , cell , biology , gene , genetics , embryonic stem cell
Heart formation involves the assembly of a tube‐like structure, which includes two concentric cellular layers (endocardium and myocardium) separated by a sheet of extracellular matrix (ECM). We investigate the displacements of cardiac progenitor cells that underlie the formation of the cardiac tube. Previously we have shown that the movement of endocardial progenitors is highly correlated with the displacements of the surrounding tissue environment. We further demonstrate that mammalian mesenchymal cells placed in the heart‐forming region are similarly able to reach the site of tubular heart formation by means of global tissue displacements. Our current study aims at comparing endocardial and myocardial progenitor displacements in early avian embryos. We use transgenic quail lines (courtesy of Dr. R. Lansford), one of which is expressing a Tie1::H2B‐YFP cassette in the nuclei of endothelial/endocardial cells, and another ubiquitously expressing PGK::H2B‐mCherry. We combine cell labeling and transplantation approaches with the use of known inhibitors of directional cell motility. The effects of the above treatments on cardiac progenitor cell motility are evaluated using epifluorescent time‐lapse recordings and subsequent computational analyses. Collectively, these analyses aid our understanding of the developmental events that underlie cardiac tube assembly. Supported by NIH HL085694.