Development 2014 Jan 18;141(2):335-45. Epub 2013 Dec 18.

Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.

Organ development is a highly regulated process involving the coordinated proliferation and differentiation of diverse cellular populations. The pathways regulating cell proliferation and their effects on organ growth are complex and for many organs incompletely understood. In all vertebrate species, the cardiac natriuretic peptides (ANP and BNP) are produced by cardiomyocytes in the developing heart. Read More

Development 2008 Sep;135(18):3137-48

Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Department of Zebrafish Neurogenetics, Institute of Developmental Genetics, Ingolstaedter Landstrasse 1, D-85764 Neuherberg, Germany.

Neuronal production in the midbrain-hindbrain domain (MH) of the vertebrate embryonic neural tube depends on a progenitor pool called the ;intervening zone' (IZ), located at the midbrain-hindbrain boundary. The progressive recruitment of IZ progenitors along the mediolateral (future dorsoventral) axis prefigures the earlier maturation of the MH basal plate. It also correlates with a lower sensitivity of medial versus lateral IZ progenitors to the neurogenesis inhibition process that maintains the IZ pool. Read More

Development 2001 Oct;128(20):3927-36

Instituto Cajal, CSIC, Av. Doctor Arce 37, 28002 Madrid, Spain.

Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons grow towards the diencephalic ventral midline during embryogenesis guided by cues whose nature is largely unknown. We provide in vitro and in vivo evidence for a novel role of Sonic hedgehog (SHH) as a negative regulator of growth cone movement. SHH suppresses both the number and the length of neurites emerging from the chick retina but not from neural tube or dorsal root ganglia explants, without interfering with their rate of proliferation and differentiation. Read More

Development 2001 May;128(9):1481-92

Instituto Cajal de Neurobiología, CSIC, Av. Doctor Arce 37, Madrid E28002, Spain.

During development of the cerebellum, Sonic hedgehog (SHH) is expressed in migrating and settled Purkinje neurons and is directly responsible for proliferation of granule cell precursors in the external germinal layer. We have previously demonstrated that SHH interacts with vitronectin in the differentiation of spinal motor neurons. Here, we analysed whether similar interactions between SHH and extracellular matrix glycoproteins regulate subsequent steps of granule cell development. Read More

Development 2000 Sep;127(18):3889-97

Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, CNRS/INSERM/ULP, BP 163, CU de Strasbourg, France.

The secreted molecule Sonic hedgehog (Shh) is crucial for floor plate and ventral brain development in amniote embryos. In zebrafish, mutations in cyclops (cyc), a gene that encodes a distinct signal related to the TGF(beta) family member Nodal, result in neural tube defects similar to those of shh null mice. cyc mutant embryos display cyclopia and lack floor plate and ventral brain regions, suggesting a role for Cyc in specification of these structures. Read More

Development 1999 Jun;126(12):2727-37

Department of Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1048, USA.

The zebrafish detour (dtr) mutation generates a novel neuronal phenotype. In dtr mutants, most cranial motor neurons, especially the branchiomotor, are missing. However, spinal motor neurons are generated normally. Read More

Development 1998 Aug;125(16):3179-88

Instituto Complutense de Drogodependencias, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Complutense University, Spain.

In the present work, we analyzed cannabinoid receptor mRNA expression, binding and activation of signal transduction mechanisms in the fetal rat brain or in cultures of fetal neuronal or glial cells. Cannabinoid receptor binding and mRNA expression were already measurable at GD14, but they were only located in discrete regions at GD16. Among these, the hippocampus, the cerebellum and the caudate-putamen area, three regions that contain a marked signal for both binding and mRNA in the adult brain. Read More

Development 1998 Aug;125(15):2847-55

Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pavia, IRCCS S.Matteo, Pavia, Italy.

Transplantation of immature CNS-derived cells into the developing brain is a powerful approach to investigate the factors that regulate neuronal position and phenotype. CNS progenitor cells dissociated from the embryonic striatum and implanted into the brain of embryos of the same species generate cells that reaggregate to form easily recognizable structures that we previously called clusters and cells that disperse and integrate as single cells into the host brain. We sought to determine if the neurons in the clusters differentiate according to their final location or acquire a striatal phenotype in heterotopic positions. Read More

Development 1998 Apr;125(8):1457-68

MIT, Department of Biology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

The cardiovascular system develops early in embryogenesis from cells of mesodermal origin. To study the molecular and cellular processes underlying this transition, we have isolated mesodermal cells from murine embryos at E7.5 with characteristic properties of endothelial progenitors by using a combination of stromal cell layers and growth conditions. Read More

Development 1997 Aug;124(16):3147-56

SFB 271 Junior Group, c/o Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany.

In vertebrates, pattern formation in the eye, central nervous system, somites, and limb depends on hedgehog activity, but a general target gene controlled by hedgehog in all these signaling centers has remained largely elusive. The medaka fish gene spalt encodes a zinc-finger transcription factor, which is expressed in all known hedgehog signaling centers of the embryo and in the organizer region at the midbrain-hindbrain boundary. We show that the spalt expression domains expand in response to ectopic hedgehog activity and narrow in the presence of protein kinase A activity, an antagonist of hedgehog signaling, indicating that spalt is a hedgehog target gene. Read More