title: Slit molecules prevent entrance of trunk neural crest cells in developing gut.
abstract: Neural crest cells emerge from the dorsal neural tube early in development and give rise to sensory and sympathetic ganglia, adrenal cells, teeth, melanocytes and especially enteric nervous system. Several inhibitory molecules have been shown to play important roles in neural crest migration, among them are the chemorepulsive Slit1-3. It was known that Slits chemorepellants are expressed at the entry to the gut, and thus could play a role in the differential ability of vagal but not trunk neural crest cells to invade the gut and form enteric ganglia. Especially since trunk neural crest cells express Robo receptor while vagal do not. Thus, although we know that Robo mediates migration along the dorsal pathway in neural crest cells, we do not know if it is responsible in preventing their entry into the gut. The goal of this study was to further corroborate a role for Slit molecules in keeping trunk neural crest cells away from the gut. We observed that when we silenced Robo receptor in trunk neural crest, the sympathoadrenal (somites 18-24) were capable of invading gut mesenchyme in larger proportion than more rostral counterparts. The more rostral trunk neural crest tended not to migrate beyond the ventral aorta, suggesting that there are other repulsive molecules keeping them away from the gut. Interestingly, we also found that when we silenced Robo in sacral neural crest they did not wait for the arrival of vagal crest but entered the gut and migrated rostrally, suggesting that Slit molecules are the ones responsible for keeping them waiting at the hindgut mesenchyme. These combined results confirm that Slit molecules are responsible for keeping the timeliness of colonization of the gut by neural crest cells.
authors.affiliation: California State University Northridge, Biology Deptartment, MC 8303. 18111 Nordhoff Street. Northridge, CA 91330, USA.
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zuhdi
authors.affiliation: California State University Northridge, Biology Deptartment, MC 8303. 18111 Nordhoff Street. Northridge, CA 91330, USA.
authors.forename: Blanca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.affiliation: California State University Northridge, Biology Deptartment, MC 8303. 18111 Nordhoff Street. Northridge, CA 91330, USA.
authors.forename: Dion
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Giovannone
authors.affiliation: California State University Northridge, Biology Deptartment, MC 8303. 18111 Nordhoff Street. Northridge, CA 91330, USA.
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ra
authors.affiliation: California State University Northridge, Biology Deptartment, MC 8303. 18111 Nordhoff Street. Northridge, CA 91330, USA.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reyes
authors.affiliation: California State University Northridge, Biology Deptartment, MC 8303. 18111 Nordhoff Street. Northridge, CA 91330, USA.
authors.forename: Viviana
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Asención
authors.affiliation: California State University Northridge, Biology Deptartment, MC 8303. 18111 Nordhoff Street. Northridge, CA 91330, USA.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: McNicoll
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Thomas Jefferson University, BLSB 306, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA.
authors.forename: Le
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: California State University Northridge, Biology Deptartment, MC 8303. 18111 Nordhoff Street. Northridge, CA 91330, USA. Electronic address: maria.debellard@csun.edu.
authors.forename: Maria Elena
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: de Bellard
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000235:genetics; D002642:Chick Embryo; D018274:Electroporation; D017615:Enteric Nervous System / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology*; D005728:Ganglia, Sympathetic / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000235:genetics*; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009432:Neural Crest / Q000502:physiology*; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D055757:SOXE Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D014404:Tubulin / Q000378:metabolism; D000098552:Slit Homolog 2 Protein
chemical_list: D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D055757:SOXE Transcription Factors; C120010:Slit1 protein, mouse; C432251:Slit3 protein, mouse; C527924:Sox10 protein, mouse; D014404:Tubulin; C462941:beta3 tubulin, mouse; D000098552:Slit Homolog 2 Protein
keywords: Cell migration; Enteric nervous system; Neural crest; Robo