Mechanics of neurulation: From classical to current perspectives on the physical mechanics that shape, fold, and form the neural tube.
Neural tube defects arise from mechanical failures in the process of neurulation. At the most fundamental level, formation of the neural tube relies on coordinated, complex tissue movements that mechanically transform the flat neural epithelium into a lumenized epithelial tube (Davidson, 2012). The nature of this mechanical transformation has mystified embryologists, geneticists, and clinicians for more than 100 years. Early embryologists pondered the physical mechanisms that guide this transformation. Detailed observations of cell and tissue movements as well as experimental embryological manipulations allowed researchers to generate and test elementary hypotheses of the intrinsic and extrinsic forces acting on the neural tissue. Current research has turned toward understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying neurulation. Genetic and molecular perturbation have identified a multitude of subcellular components that correlate with cell behaviors and tissue movements during neural tube formation. In this review, we focus on methods and conceptual frameworks that have been applied to the study of amphibian neurulation that can be used to determine how molecular and physical mechanisms are integrated and responsible for neurulation. We will describe how qualitative descriptions and quantitative measurements of strain, force generation, and tissue material properties as well as simulations can be used to understand how embryos use morphogenetic programs to drive neurulation. Birth Defects Research 109:153-168, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Department of Bioengineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Deepthi S
DS
Vijayraghavan
Department of Bioengineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.|Department of Developmental Biology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.|Department of Computational and Systems Biology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Lance A
LA
Davidson
D051339:Actin Depolymerizing Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000558:Ambystoma mexicanum / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002465:Cell Movement; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000235:genetics*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000235:genetics; D054259:Neural Tube / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D009436:Neural Tube Defects / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D054261:Neurulation / Q000235:genetics*; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020830:rac1 GTP-Binding Protein / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020742:rhoA GTP-Binding Protein / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
D051339:Actin Depolymerizing Factors; D020830:rac1 GTP-Binding Protein; D020742:rhoA GTP-Binding Protein
biomechanics; biophysics; cell mechanics; epithelia; epithelial folding; morphogenesis; neural tube defects; quantitative analysis