Floor plate-derived sonic hedgehog regulates glial and ependymal cell fates in the developing spinal cord.

ABSTRACT: Cell fate specification in the CNS is controlled by the secreted morphogen sonic hedgehog (Shh). At spinal cord levels, Shh produced by both the notochord and floor plate (FP) diffuses dorsally to organize patterned gene expression in dividing neural and glial progenitors. Despite the fact that two discrete sources of Shh are involved in this process, the individual contribution of the FP, the only intrinsic source of Shh throughout both neurogenesis and gliogenesis, has not been clearly defined. Here, we have used conditional mutagenesis approaches in mice to selectively inactivate Shh in the FP (Shh(FP)) while allowing expression to persist in the notochord, which underlies the neural tube during neurogenesis but not gliogenesis. We also inactivated Smo, the common Hh receptor, in neural

SUBMITTER: Yu K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3596997 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature