The neural crest epithelial-mesenchymal transition in 4D: a 'tail' of multiple non-obligatory cellular mechanisms.

ABSTRACT: An epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is the process whereby epithelial cells become mesenchymal cells, and is typified by the generation of neural crest cells from the neuroepithelium of the dorsal neural tube. To investigate the neural crest EMT, we performed live cell confocal time-lapse imaging to determine the sequence of cellular events and the role of cell division in the EMT. It was observed that in most EMTs, the apical cell tail is retracted cleanly from the lumen of the neuroepithelium, followed by movement of the cell body out of the neural tube. However, exceptions to this sequence include the rupture of the neural crest cell tail during retraction (junctional complexes not completely downregulated), or translocation of the cell body away from the apical surface while mor

SUBMITTER: Ahlstrom JD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2680107 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature