title: Factors influencing the spinal motoneurons in development.
abstract: The development of the spinal cord needs a concerted interaction of transcription factors activating diverse genes and signals from outside acting on the specification of the different cells. Signals have to act on the segments of the embryo as well as on the cranial-caudal axis and the dorso-ventral axis. Additionally the axons of the motoneurons have to cross the central nervous system barrier to connect to the periphery. Intensive anatomical studies have been followed by molecular characterization of the different subsets of transcription factors that are expressed by cells of the developing spinal cord. Here, intensive studies for the most important appearing cells, the motoneurons, have resulted in a good knowledge on the expression patterns of these proteins. Nonetheless motoneurons are by far not the only important cells and the concert activity of all cells besides them is necessary for the correct function and integrity of motoneurons within the spinal cord. This article will briefly summarize the different aspects on spinal cord development and focuses on the differentiation as well as the functionalization of motoneurons.
authors.affiliation: Faculty for Biology and Biotechnology, Group for Molecular Cell Biology, Universitaetsstr. 150, Ruhr University Bochum, D-44801 Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3203-5289
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wiese
keywords: axon; extracellular matrix; neurite; synapse muscle; transcription factors