Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 7, 2026

Modeling Paracrine Noncanonical Wnt Signaling In Vitro
Published on: December 10, 2021
Noncanonical Wnt signaling and neural polarity
Mireille Montcouquiol1, E Bryan Crenshaw, Matthew W Kelley
1Section on Developmental Neuroscience, NIDCD, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland 20982, USA.
Abstract:
The Wnt signaling pathway regulates multiple events in development and disease in both vertebrates and invertebrates. Recently, the noncanonical Wnt signaling cascades, those that do not signal through beta-catenin, have gained prominence for their role in the regulation of cellular polarity. It is not surprising that cellular polarization influences a number of different developmental events within the nervous system, including neurulation and neural tube closure, cellular migration, and uniform orientation of cells within an epithelial plane (planar cell polarity). In this review, we describe the differences between the canonical and noncanonical pathways, summarize recent data illustrating the roles of the noncanonical Wnt pathway in different polarizing events during neural development, and discuss the potential molecular mechanisms that underlie the generation of cellular asymmetry and polarity.
Related Concept Videos
Non-Canonical Wnt Signaling Pathways
Non-Canonical Wnt Signaling Pathways
Canonical Wnt Signaling Pathway
Catenins
Catenins in Cell Junctions
Catenins bind to cell adhesion molecules such as cadherins and link them to different cytoskeletal proteins depending on the type of cell junction. At the adherens...
Determination
Notch Signaling Pathway
The Notch gene came into the limelight in 1914 after the discovery that its mutation in Drosophila melanogaster leads to a serrated (or "notched") wing margin phenotype. It was not until 1985...
