Otic ablation of smoothened reveals direct and indirect requirements for Hedgehog signaling in inner ear development.

ABSTRACT: In mouse embryos lacking sonic hedgehog (Shh), dorsoventral polarity within the otic vesicle is disrupted. Consequently, ventral otic derivatives, including the cochlear duct and saccule, fail to form, and dorsal otic derivatives, including the semicircular canals, endolymphatic duct and utricle, are malformed or absent. Since inner ear patterning and morphogenesis are heavily dependent on extracellular signals derived from tissues that are also compromised by the loss of Shh, the extent to which Shh signaling acts directly on the inner ear for its development is unclear. To address this question, we generated embryos in which smoothened (Smo), an essential transducer of Hedgehog (Hh) signaling, was conditionally inactivated in the otic epithelium (Smo(ecko)). Ventral otic derivatives fail

SUBMITTER: Brown AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3160092 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature