The neural crest are bilaterally paired strips of cells arising in the ectoderm at the margins of the neural tube. These cells migrate to many different locations and differentiate into many cell types within the embryo. This means that many different systems (Neural, skin, teeth, head, face, heart, endocrine, gastrointestinal tract) will have a contribution fron the neural crest cells. General neural development is also covered in Neural Notes.
Beside the spinal cord neural crest cells form the sensory ganglia (dorsal root ganglia). In the head region neural crest cells migrate into the pharyngeal arches (as shown in movie below) and form many different structures.
Page Links: Introduction | Some Recent Findings | Derivatives | Neural Crest Migration | References | Search PubMed | Glossary | WWW Links
Copenhaver PF. How to innervate a simple gut: Familiar themes and unique aspects in the formation of the insect enteric nervous system. Dev Dyn. 2007 Apr 9;
"Enteric neurons and glial precursors arise via epithelial-to-mesenchymal transitions that resemble the generation of neural crest cells and sensory placodes in vertebrates; most cells then migrate extensive distances before differentiating."
Anderson RB, Bergner AJ, Taniguchi M, Fujisawa H, Forrai A, Robb L, Young HM. Effects of different regions of the developing gut on the migration of enteric neural crest-derived cells: A role for Sema3A, but not Sema3F. Dev Biol. 2007 Feb 21;
Ngan ES, Lee KY, Sit FY, Poon HC, Chan JK, Sham MH, Lui VC, Tam PK. Prokineticin-1 modulates proliferation and differentiation of enteric neural crest cells. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2007 Apr;1773(4):536-45.
Brito JM, Teillet MA, Le Douarin NM. An early role for Sonic hedgehog from foregut endoderm in jaw development: Ensuring neural crest cell survival. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Aug 1;103(31):11607-12. Epub 2006 Jul 25.
Neural Crest Derivatives
Neural Crest-Differentiation
Neural Crest- Spinal Cord
See also Neural Crest Migration and Neural Movies.
LeDouarin 80's Development of the peripheral Nervous system from the neural crest, Ann Rev Cell Biol 4 p375
transplantation experiments in chicken/quail
nucleoli to differentiate different species
can follow path of migration of transplanted cells
now molecularly tag neural crest cells (LacZ)
Links: Journals | Online Textbooks | Search Textbooks | PubMed | 1999 Refs | Search PubMed | Glossary
Search NLM Online Textbooks "neural crest" : Endocrinology | Molecular Biology of the Cell | The Cell- A molecular Approach
Reviews
Anderson RB, Newgreen DF, Young HM Neural crest and the development of the enteric nervous system. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2006;589:181-96.
Crane JF, Trainor PA. Neural crest stem and progenitor cells. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol. 2006;22:267-86.
Burns AJ. Migration of neural crest-derived enteric nervous system precursor cells to and within the gastrointestinal tract. Int J Dev Biol. 2005;49(2-3):143-50.
Articles
Copenhaver PF. How to innervate a simple gut: Familiar themes and unique aspects in the formation of the insect enteric nervous system. Dev Dyn. 2007 Apr 9;
"Enteric neurons and glial precursors arise via epithelial-to-mesenchymal transitions that resemble the generation of neural crest cells and sensory placodes in vertebrates; most cells then migrate extensive distances before differentiating."
Anderson RB, Bergner AJ, Taniguchi M, Fujisawa H, Forrai A, Robb L, Young HM. Effects of different regions of the developing gut on the migration of enteric neural crest-derived cells: A role for Sema3A, but not Sema3F. Dev Biol. 2007 Feb 21;
Ngan ES, Lee KY, Sit FY, Poon HC, Chan JK, Sham MH, Lui VC, Tam PK. Prokineticin-1 modulates proliferation and differentiation of enteric neural crest cells. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2007 Apr;1773(4):536-45.
Brito JM, Teillet MA, Le Douarin NM. An early role for Sonic hedgehog from foregut endoderm in jaw development: Ensuring neural crest cell survival. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Aug 1;103(31):11607-12. Epub 2006 Jul 25.
Search Mar 2007 "neural crest development" 3,394 reference articles of which 692 were reviews. (More? Neural Crest Reviews References 1998)
Search PubMed: term = enteric neural crest | neural crest development |
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Notes under development (notice removed when complete)
Neural crest cells contribute to many different tissues and systems throughout the entire embryo.
While the cells originate from the ectoderm layer, unlike the neural tube which "pinches off" from the surface ectoderm, the neural crest cells head off on migrations throughout the embryo forming a diverse range of cell types and contributions to different tissues.
This behaviour also means that failure of correct migration or differentiation can lead to a number of different abnormalities.
Please email Dr Mark Hill if you wish to make a comment about this current project.
These selected articles (April 2005) updated when time permits.
Mechanisms and perspectives on differentiation of autonomic neurons.
Howard MJ., Dev Biol. 2005 Jan 15;277(2):271-86. Review. "Core of DNA binding proteins required for the development of sympathetic, parasympathetic, and enteric neurons, including Phox2 and MASH1, whose specificity is regulated by the recruitment of additional transcriptional regulators in a subtype-specific manner.
For noradrenergic neurons, the basic helix-loop-helix DNA binding protein HAND2 (dHAND) appears to serve this function."