title: An increase in intracellular Ca2+ is involved in pronephric tubule differentiation in the amphibian Xenopus laevis.
abstract: The pronephros is the first kidney to develop and is the functional embryonic kidney in lower vertebrates. It has previously been shown that pronephric tubules can be induced to form ex vivo in ectodermal tissue by treatment with activin A and retinoic acid. In this study, we investigated the role of Ca(2+) signaling in the formation of the pronephric tubules both in intact Xenopus embryos and ex vivo. In the ex vivo system, retinoic acid but not activin A stimulated the generation of Ca(2+) transients during tubule formation. Furthermore, tubule differentiation could be induced by agents that increase the concentration of intracellular Ca(2+) in activin A-treated ectoderm. In addition, tubule formation was inhibited by loading the ectodermal tissue with the Ca(2+) chelator, BAPTA-AM prior to activin A/retinoic acid treatment. In intact embryos, Ca(2+) transients were also recorded during tubule formation, and photo-activation of the caged Ca(2+) chelator, diazo-2, localized to the pronephric domain, produced embryos with a shortened and widened tubule phenotype. In addition, the location of the Ca(2+) transients observed, correlated with the expression pattern of the specific pronephric tubule gene, XSMP-30. These data indicate that Ca(2+) might be a necessary signal in the process of tubulogenesis both ex vivo and in intact embryos.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Biologie du Développement, UMR 5547 and GDR 2688, Université Paul Sabatier, 118 Route de Narbonne, F-31062 Toulouse, Cedex 04, France.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Leclerc
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Webb
authors.forename: Andrew L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moreau
mesh_terms: D028341:Activins / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D002614:Chelating Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D003979:Diazonium Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D007684:Kidney Tubules / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D042282:Microdissection; D010642:Phenoxyacetates / Q000494:pharmacology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000378:metabolism; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000196:embryology*
chemical_list: D002614:Chelating Agents; D017931:DNA Primers; D003979:Diazonium Compounds; D010642:Phenoxyacetates; D028341:Activins; C063685:diazo-2; D014212:Tretinoin; D002118:Calcium