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Updated: Dec 28, 2025
08:33
An Ex vivo Culture System to Study Thyroid Development
Published on: June 6, 2014
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Stem cell development involves divergent thyroid hormone receptor subtype expression and epigenetic modifications in
Takashi Hasebe1, Kenta Fujimoto1, Daniel R Buchholz2
1Department of Biology, Nippon Medical School, Kyonan-cho, Musashino, Tokyo, Japan.
General and Comparative Endocrinology
|February 22, 2020
Summary
Thyroid hormone (TH) drives frog intestinal remodeling. Stem cell precursors express TH receptor alpha (TRα), while TH receptor beta (TRβ) is transiently upregulated, suggesting distinct roles in development.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Biology
- Endocrinology
- Cell Biology
Background:
- Frog intestinal metamorphosis involves larval cell apoptosis and stem cell regeneration.
- Receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 2 (Ror2) marks stem cell precursors.
- Thyroid hormone (TH) regulates this complex developmental process.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the roles of thyroid hormone receptors (TRα and TRβ) in Xenopus laevis intestinal remodeling.
- To identify the expression patterns of TRα and TRβ in stem cells and developing epithelia.
- To explore epigenetic modifications associated with stem cell lineage during metamorphosis.
Main Methods:
- Immunohistochemistry using Ror2 as a marker for stem cell precursors.
- Analysis of TRα and TRβ expression during thyroid hormone-induced intestinal remodeling.
- Assessment of histone modifications (acetylation and methylation) in stem cell populations.
Main Results:
- TRα is specifically expressed in stem cell precursors and their adult progeny, localizing to intestinal fold troughs.
- TRβ is transiently upregulated throughout the intestine, with high expression in adult epithelial primordia.
- Enhanced histone H4 acetylation and lack of H3K27 trimethylation are observed in stem cell precursors and adult primordia.
Conclusions:
- TRα and TRβ exhibit distinct expression patterns and likely distinct functions in regulating intestinal stem cell lineage during frog metamorphosis.
- Epigenetic modifications, including histone acetylation and methylation, are involved in the stem cell-mediated intestinal remodeling process.
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