title: Neur-ons and neur-offs: regulators of neural induction in vertebrate embryos and embryonic stem cells.
abstract: Although the spatial and temporal orchestration of early vertebrate embryogenesis is missing from cell culture systems, recent work suggests that many of the same signals affecting neural induction in vertebrate embryos also regulate embryonic stem (ES) cell neurogenesis. One key regulatory mechanism involved in both in vivo and in vitro neural induction is the inhibition of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signals. Wnts and Fibroblast Growth Factors represent additional regulatory influences, which may affect the adoption of neural fates through both BMP-dependent and BMP-independent mechanisms. Insights into neural induction in vivo help to guide paradigms for promoting neural differentiation by ES cells. Conversely, insights into the mechanisms by which ES cells adopt neural fates may provide an improved understanding of neural induction in the early embryo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158-2324, USA.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gaulden
authors.forename: Jeremy F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Reiter
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D004627:Embryonic Induction; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006801:Humans; D009420:Nervous System / Q000196:embryology* / Q000254:growth & development; D009424:Nervous System Physiological Phenomena; D015398:Signal Transduction; D051153:Wnt Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins; D051153:Wnt Proteins; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors