title: Generation of bioengineered feather buds on a reconstructed chick skin from dissociated epithelial and mesenchymal cells.
abstract: Various kinds of in vitro culture systems of tissues and organs have been developed, and applied to understand multicellular systems during embryonic organogenesis. In the research field of feather bud development, tissue recombination assays using an intact epithelial tissue and mesenchymal tissue/cells have contributed to our understanding the mechanisms of feather bud formation and development. However, there are few methods to generate a skin and its appendages from single cells of both epithelium and mesenchyme. In this study, we have developed a bioengineering method to reconstruct an embryonic dorsal skin after completely dissociating single epithelial and mesenchymal cells from chick skin. Multiple feather buds can form on the reconstructed skin in a single row in vitro. The bioengineered feather buds develop into long feather buds by transplantation onto a chorioallantoic membrane. The bioengineered bud sizes were similar to those of native embryo. The number of bioengineered buds was increased linearly with the initial contact length of epithelial and mesenchymal cell layers where the epithelial-mesenchymal interactions occur. In addition, the bioengineered bud formation was also disturbed by the inhibition of major signaling pathways including FGF (fibroblast growth factor), Wnt/β-catenin, Notch and BMP (bone morphogenetic protein). We expect that our bioengineering technique will motivate further extensive research on multicellular developmental systems, such as the formation and sizing of cutaneous appendages, and their regulatory mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Mathematics, College of Science and Engineering, Aoyama Gakuin University, Kanagawa, 252-5258, Japan.
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ishida
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Mathematics, College of Science and Engineering, Aoyama Gakuin University, Kanagawa, 252-5258, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mitsui
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030161:Avian Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D057005:Bioengineering / Q000379:methods*; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000196:embryology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002642:Chick Embryo; D049033:Chorioallantoic Membrane / Q000098:blood supply / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D005241:Feathers / Q000196:embryology*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008858:Microscopy, Phase-Contrast; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics; D012867:Skin / Q000098:blood supply / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology*; D013997:Time Factors; D046509:Tissue Culture Techniques
chemical_list: D030161:Avian Proteins
keywords: epithelial-mesenchymal interaction; feather bud development; organ germ method; self-organization; skin regeneration