title: Ontogenesis of gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons: a model for hypothalamic neuroendocrine cell development.
abstract: The vertebrate hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis is the anatomical framework responsible for reproductive competence and species propagation. Essential to the coordinated actions of this three-tiered biological system is the fact that the regulatory inputs ultimately converge on the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neuronal system, which in rodents primarily resides in the preoptic/hypothalamic region. In this short review we will focus on: (1) the general embryonic temporal and spatial development of the rodent GnRH neuronal system, (2) the origin(s) of GnRH neurons, and (3) which transcription - and growth factors have been found to be critical for GnRH neuronal ontogenesis and cellular fate-specification. Moreover, we ask the question whether the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in GnRH neuronal development may also play a role in the development of other hypophyseal secreting neuroendocrine cells in the hypothalamus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University , Kent, OH , USA.
authors.forename: Erica L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Stevenson
authors.forename: Kristina M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Corella
authors.forename: Wilson C J
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Chung
keywords: GnRH; embryonic and fetal development; fibroblast growth factor 8; hypothalamus; neuroendocrine cells