首页 | 本学科首页   官方微博 | 高级检索  
     


Blocking N-cadherin function disrupts the epithelial structure of differentiating neural tissue in the embryonic chicken brain
Authors:SI G?nzler-Odenthal  C Redies
Affiliation:Institute of Biology III, University of Freiburg, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany.
Abstract:
The cell adhesion molecule N-cadherin is ubiquitously expressed in the early neuroepithelium, with strongest expression in the ependymal lining. We blocked the function of N-cadherin during early chicken brain development by injecting antibodies against N-cadherin into the tectal ventricle of embryos at 4-5 d of incubation [embryonic day 4 (E4)-E5]. N-cadherin blockage results in massive morphological changes in restricted brain regions. At approximately E6, these changes consist of invaginations of pieces of the ependymal lining and the formation of neuroepithelial rosettes. The rosettes are composed of central fragments of ependymal lining, surrounded by an inner ventricular layer and an outer mantle layer. Radial glia processes are radially arranged around the ependymal centers of the rosettes. The normal layering of the neural tissue is thus preserved, but its coherent epithelial structure is disrupted. The observed morphological changes are restricted to specific brain regions such as the tectum and the dorsal thalamus, whereas the ventral thalamus and the pretectum are almost undisturbed. At E10-E11, analysis of late effects of N-cadherin blockage reveals that in the dorsal thalamus, gray matter is fragmented and disorganized; in the tectum, additional layers have formed at the ventricular surface. Together, these results indicate that N-cadherin function is required for the maintenance of a coherent sheet of neuroepithelium in specific brain regions. Disruption of this sheet results in an abnormal morphogenesis of brain gray matter.
Keywords:
本文献已被 PubMed 等数据库收录!
设为首页 | 免责声明 | 关于勤云 | 加入收藏

Copyright©北京勤云科技发展有限公司  京ICP备09084417号