title: Regulation of vertebrate left-right asymmetries by extracellular matrix.
abstract: The vertebrate body is organized along three geometric axes: anterior-posterior, dorsal-ventral and left-right. Left-right axis formation, displayed in heart and gut development, is the least understood, even though it has been studied for many years. In Xenopus laevis gastrulae, a fibronectin-rich extracellular matrix is deposited on the basal surface of ectoderm cells over which cardiac and visceral primordia move during development. Here I report experiments in which localized perturbation of a small patch of extracellular matrix by microsurgery was correlated with localized randomization of left-right asymmetries. Global perturbation of the extracellular matrix by microinjection of Arg-Gly-Asp peptides or heparinase into the blastocoel resulted in global randomization of left-right asymmetries. From these observations, I suggest that left-right axial information is contained in the extracellular matrix early in development and is independently transmitted to cardiac and visceral primordia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Neuroanatomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455.
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Yost
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D004475:Ectoderm / Q000637:transplantation; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016332:Fetal Tissue Transplantation / Q000502:physiology*; D005353:Fibronectins / Q000032:analysis / Q000502:physiology; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D007839:Functional Laterality; D005775:Gastrula / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D014981:Xenopus
chemical_list: D005353:Fibronectins; D009842:Oligopeptides