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Flat Mount Imaging of Mouse Skin and Its Application to the Analysis of Hair Follicle Patterning and Sensory Axon Morphology
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Spindle orientation and epidermal morphogenesis.

Anita Kulukian1, Elaine Fuchs

  • 1Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, , New York, NY 10065, USA.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences
|September 25, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Asymmetric cell divisions (ACDs) create unequal daughter cells, crucial for stem cells. In mammalian epidermis, oriented divisions and microenvironment cues guide ACDs, shaping development and stratification.

Keywords:
asymmetric cell divisioncell fatespindle orientationsymmetric cell division

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Biology
  • Cell Biology
  • Stem Cell Biology

Background:

  • Asymmetric cell divisions (ACDs) produce unequal daughter cells, a key feature of stem cells.
  • ACDs occur via asymmetric partitioning of cellular components or microenvironment-induced cell fate differences.
  • Both mechanisms are increasingly recognized in mammalian epidermal development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the mechanisms of oriented cell divisions in mammalian epidermal development.
  • To explore how spindle orientation influences protein partitioning and daughter cell microenvironments.
  • To understand the contribution of progenitor cell divisions to epidermal stratification.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing literature on cell division orientation and epidermal development.
  • Analysis of molecular machinery guiding spindle orientation in embryonic epidermis.
  • Examination of the relationship between spindle alignment and basement membrane interactions.

Main Results:

  • Changes in mitotic spindle orientation occur during embryonic epidermal development.
  • Conserved molecular machinery directs asymmetric protein partitioning during ACDs.
  • Spindle alignment (parallel or perpendicular to the basement membrane) creates differential daughter cell microenvironments.

Conclusions:

  • Oriented progenitor cell divisions are critical for mammalian epidermal development.
  • Both intrinsic asymmetric partitioning and extrinsic microenvironmental cues contribute to ACDs in the epidermis.
  • Understanding these processes is key to comprehending epidermal stratification and stem cell function.