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08:01
Analysis of Developing Tooth Germ Innervation Using Microfluidic Co-culture Devices
Published on: August 14, 2015
Taste buds develop autonomously from endoderm without induction by cephalic neural crest or paraxial mesoderm
1Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla 92093-0201, USA. lbarlow@ucsd.edu
Development (Cambridge, England)
|March 1, 1997
Summary
Embryonic taste bud development does not require nerve fibers. Research shows that oropharyngeal endoderm can form taste buds intrinsically, independent of neural crest or mesoderm.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Biology
- Neuroscience
- Cell Biology
Background:
- Historically, nerve fibers were thought to induce embryonic taste bud differentiation.
- Recent studies challenged this, showing taste bud development occurs without innervation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify the specific tissues responsible for inducing taste bud formation in the oropharyngeal endoderm.
- To investigate the roles of cephalic neural crest and paraxial mesoderm in taste bud development.
Main Methods:
- Utilized complementary grafting and explant culture techniques in salamander embryos.
- Manipulated embryonic tissues to remove cephalic neural crest and paraxial mesoderm derivatives before key developmental stages.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated that well-differentiated taste buds develop in tissues completely lacking neural crest and paraxial mesoderm derivatives.
- Taste buds formed in oropharyngeal explants even when neural crest migration or paraxial mesoderm movement had not yet begun.
Conclusions:
- Concluded that neither cranial neural crest nor paraxial mesoderm induces embryonic taste buds.
- The capacity for taste bud development appears to be an intrinsic property of the oropharyngeal endoderm, determined post-gastrulation.
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