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Life, death and Sonic hedgehog
J M Britto1, D Tannahill, R J Keynes
1Department of Anatomy, University of Cambridge, UK.
Summary
Sonic hedgehog (SHH) is crucial for embryonic development, not only for tissue polarity but also for cell survival and proliferation. This protein acts as a vital trophic and mitogenic factor during brain development.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Biology
- Molecular Biology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Sonic hedgehog (SHH) is a secreted glycoprotein vital for embryonic development.
- SHH is a vertebrate homologue of the Drosophila segment polarity gene Hedgehog.
- Previous studies focused on SHH's role in specifying dorsoventral polarity in neural tubes and somites.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate potential additional functions of SHH beyond dorsoventral specification.
- To explore SHH's role in cell survival and proliferation during embryogenesis.
Main Methods:
- Perturbation of SHH signaling in the cranial neural tube.
- Observation of cell death and proliferation in neural tube and neural crest cells.
Main Results:
- Perturbing SHH signaling post-dorsoventral specification increased cell death.
- Increased cell death was observed in both the neural tube and neural crest.
- Suggests SHH is continuously required for brain development.
Conclusions:
- SHH signaling is essential for maintaining cell survival and proliferation in the developing brain.
- SHH functions as a trophic and/or mitogenic factor during brain development.
- Expands the known cellular responses to SHH signaling in embryogenesis.