Formation of the Vertebrate Face Differentiation and Development

Any attempt at understanding the problem of differentiation within the face is one of understanding the processes which manipulate cranial neural crest into the myriad of tissue types and forms this population of cells provides to the embryonic primordia of the craniofacial region The differentiatio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American zoologist 1993-01, Vol.33 (4), p.462-471
Main Author: LANGILLE, R. M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anatomy & physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Cartilage
Chondrogenesis
Development and Evolution of the Vertebrate Head
Developmental biology
Embryogenesis
Embryology: invertebrates and vertebrates. Teratology
Embryos
Epithelium
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Head
Mandible
Neural crest
Neurons
Organogenesis. Fetal development
Organogenesis. Physiological fonctions
Prenatal development
Vertebrates
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Summary:Any attempt at understanding the problem of differentiation within the face is one of understanding the processes which manipulate cranial neural crest into the myriad of tissue types and forms this population of cells provides to the embryonic primordia of the craniofacial region The differentiation of facial ectomesenchyme (neural crest-derived mesenchyme) is analyzed at 3 major developmental points 1). The early commitment of neural crest prior to migration which will influence subsequent differentiation, 2). Induction and the inductive signal which initiates the differentiative cascade, and 3). The differentiative event itself, including factors which affect the processes of differentiation and growth and our current (limited) state of knowledge of the factors which control pattern formation during the differentiative process Experimental embryological evidence and the analysis of in situ Hox gene expression is used to argue for the early commitment of cranial neural crest with respect to antero-posterior position within the head The necessity of epithelialmesenchymal interaction during induction and recent experimental evidence which suggests that one or more of the bone morphogenetic proteins is the inductive signal is presented Our current knowledge of the role(s) that growth factors, retinoic acid and Hox genes may be playing to modulate the differentiative process, once activated by the inductive event, is discussed Finally, the limited knowledge which exists on pattern formation in the face is reviewed and some initial studies on regional specification of tissues within the facial primordia, beginning with the chondrogenic potential of the avian mandible, is presented as a method to initiate a search for the mechanism which controls pattern formation during facial differentiation.
ISSN:1540-7063
0003-1569
1557-7023
2162-4445
DOI:10.1093/icb/33.4.462