| 1. |
- Azbazdar, Yagmur, et al.
(författare)
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Head organizer : Cerberus and IGF cooperate in brain induction in Xenopus embryos
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Ingår i: Cells and Development. - 2667-2901.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Neural induction by cell-cell signaling was discovered a century ago by the organizer transplantations of Spemann and Mangold in amphibians. Spemann later found that early dorsal blastopore lips induced heads and late organizers trunk-tail structures. Identifying region-specific organizer signals has been a driving force in the progress of animal biology. Head induction in the absence of trunk is designated archencephalic differentiation. Two specific head inducers, Cerberus and Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs), that induce archencephalic brain but not trunk-tail structures have been described previously. However, whether these two signals interact with each other had not been studied to date and was the purpose of the present investigation. It was found that Cerberus, a multivalent growth factor antagonist that inhibits Nodal, BMP and Wnt signals, strongly cooperated with IGF2, a growth factor that provides a positive signal through tyrosine kinase IGF receptors that activate MAPK and other pathways. The ectopic archencephalic structures induced by the combination of Cerberus and IGF2 are of higher frequency and larger than either one alone. They contain brain, a cyclopic eye and multiple olfactory placodes, without trace of trunk structures such as notochord or somites. A dominant-negative secreted IGF receptor 1 blocked Cerberus activity, indicating that endogenous IGF signals are required for ectopic brain formation. In a sensitized embryonic system, in which embryos were depleted of β-catenin, IGF2 did not by itself induce neural tissue while in combination with Cerberus it greatly enhanced formation of circular brain structures expressing the anterior markers Otx2 and Rx2a, but not spinal cord or notochord markers. The main conclusion of this work is that IGF provides a positive signal initially uniformly expressed throughout the embryo that potentiates the effect of an organizer-specific negative signal mediated by Cerberus. The results are discussed in the context of the history of neural induction.
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| 2. |
- Arregi, Igor, et al.
(författare)
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Retinol dehydrogenase-10 regulates pancreas organogenesis and endocrine cell differentiation via paracrine retinoic acid signaling
- 2016
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Ingår i: Endocrinology. - : The Endocrine Society. - 0013-7227 .- 1945-7170. ; 157:12, s. 4615-4631
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Vitamin A-derived retinoic acid (RA) signals are critical for the development of several organs, including the pancreas. However, the tissue-specific control of RA synthesis in organ and cell lineage development has only poorly been addressed in vivo. Here, we show that retinol dehydrogenase-10 (Rdh10), a key enzyme in embryonic RA production, has important functions in pancreas organogenesis and endocrine cell differentiation. Rdh10 was expressed in the developing pancreas epithelium and surrounding mesenchyme. Rdh10 null mutant mouse embryos exhibited dorsal pancreas agenesis and a hypoplastic ventral pancreas with retarded tubulogenesis and branching. Conditional disruption of Rdh10 from the endoderm caused increased mortality, reduced body weight, and lowered blood glucose levels after birth. Endodermal Rdh10 deficiency led to a smaller dorsal pancreas with a reduced density of early glucagonβ and insulinβ cells. During the secondary transition, the reduction of Neurogenin3β endocrine progenitors in the mutant dorsal pancreas accounted for fewer β-and α-cells. Changes in the expression of β-and α-cellspecific transcription factors indicated that Rdh10 might also participate in the terminal differentiation of endocrine cells. Together, our results highlight the importance of both mesenchymal andepithelialRdh10forpancreogenesisandthefirstwaveofendocrinecell differentiation.Wefurther propose a model in which the Rdh10-expressing exocrine tissue acts as an essential source ofRAsignals in the second wave of endocrine cell differentiation.
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| 3. |
- Gouignard, Nadège, et al.
(författare)
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Gene expression of the two developmentally regulated dermatan sulfate epimerases in the Xenopus embryo
- 2018
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Ingår i: PLoS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 13:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Chondroitin sulfate (CS)/dermatan sulfate (DS) proteoglycans are abundant on the cell surface and in the extracellular matrix and have important functions in matrix structure, cell-matrix interaction and signaling. The DS epimerases 1 and 2, encoded by Dse and Dsel, respectively, convert CS to a CS/DS hybrid chain, which is structurally and conformationally richer than CS, favouring interaction with matrix proteins and growth factors. We recently showed that Xenopus Dse is essential for the migration of neural crest cells by allowing cell surface CS/DS proteoglycans to adhere to fibronectin. Here we investigate the expression of Dse and Dsel in Xenopus embryos. We show that both genes are maternally expressed and exhibit partially overlapping activity in the eyes, brain, trigeminal ganglia, neural crest, adenohypophysis, sclerotome, and dorsal endoderm. Dse is specifically expressed in the epidermis, anterior surface ectoderm, spinal nerves, notochord and dermatome, whereas Dsel mRNA alone is transcribed in the spinal cord, epibranchial ganglia, prechordal mesendoderm and myotome. The expression of the two genes coincides with sites of cell differentiation in the epidermis and neural tissue. Several expression domains can be linked to previously reported phenotypes of knockout mice and clinical manifestations, such as the Musculocontractural Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and psychiatric disorders.
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| 4. |
- Maccarana, Marco, et al.
(författare)
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Inhibition of iduronic acid biosynthesis by ebselen reduces glycosaminoglycan accumulation in mucopolysaccharidosis type I fibroblasts
- 2021
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Ingår i: Glycobiology. - : Oxford University Press. - 0959-6658 .- 1460-2423. ; 31:10, s. 1319-1329
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPS-I) is a rare lysosomal storage disorder caused by deficiency of the enzyme alpha-L-iduronidase, which removes iduronic acid in both chondroitin/dermatan sulfate (CS/DS) and heparan sulfate (HS) and thereby contributes to the catabolism of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). To ameliorate this genetic defect, the patients are currently treated by enzyme replacement and bone marrow transplantation, which have a number of drawbacks. This study was designed to develop an alternative treatment by inhibition of iduronic acid formation. By screening the Prestwick drug library, we identified ebselen as a potent inhibitor of enzymes that produce iduronic acid in CS/DS and HS. Ebselen efficiently inhibited iduronic acid formation during CS/DS synthesis in cultured fibroblasts. Treatment of MPS-I fibroblasts with ebselen not only reduced accumulation of CS/DS but also promoted GAG degradation. In early Xenopus embryos, this drug phenocopied the effect of downregulation of DS-epimerase 1, the main enzyme responsible for iduronic production in CS/DS, suggesting that ebselen inhibits iduronic acid production in vivo. However, ebselen failed to ameliorate the CS/DS and GAG burden in MPS-I mice. Nevertheless, the results propose a potential of iduronic acid substrate reduction therapy for MPS-I patients.
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| 5. |
- Pera, Edgar M., et al.
(författare)
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Inhibition of the serine protease HtrA1 by SerpinE2 suggests an extracellular proteolytic pathway in the control of neural crest migration
- 2023
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Ingår i: eLife. - 2050-084X. ; 12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We previously showed that SerpinE2 and the serine protease HtrA1 modulate fibro-blast growth factor (FGF) signaling in germ layer specification and head-to-tail development of Xenopus embryos. Here, we present an extracellular proteolytic mechanism involving this serpin-protease system in the developing neural crest (NC). Knockdown of SerpinE2 by injected antisense morpholino oligonucleotides did not affect the specification of NC progenitors but instead inhibited the migration of NC cells, causing defects in dorsal fin, melanocyte, and craniofacial cartilage formation. Similarly, overexpression of the HtrA1 protease impaired NC cell migration and the formation of NC-derived structures. The phenotype of SerpinE2 knockdown was overcome by concomitant downregulation of HtrA1, indicating that SerpinE2 stimulates NC migration by inhibiting endog-enous HtrA1 activity. SerpinE2 binds to HtrA1, and the HtrA1 protease triggers degradation of the cell surface proteoglycan Syndecan-4 (Sdc4). Microinjection of Sdc4 mRNA partially rescued NC migration defects induced by both HtrA1 upregulation and SerpinE2 downregulation. These epistatic experiments suggest a proteolytic pathway by a double inhibition mechanism: SerpinE2 ┤HtrA1 protease ┤Syndecan-4 → NC cell migration.
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