A novel model to study the dorsolateral migration of melanoblasts

Abstract

Melanocytes derived from pluripotent neural crest cells migrate initially in the dorsolateral pathway between the ectoderm and dermomyotome. To understand the role of specific proteins involved in this cell migration, we looked for a cellular model that mimics the in vivo behavior of melanoblasts, and that allows functional studies of their migration. We report here that wild-type embryonic stem (ES) cells are able to follow the ventral and dorsolateral neural crest pathways after being grafted into chicken embryos. By contrast, a mutant ES cell line deficient for beta1 integrin subunits, proteins involved in cell-extracellular interactions, had a severely impaired migratory behavior. Interestingly, ES cells deficient for Kit, the tyrosine kinase receptor for the stem cell factor (SCF), behaved similarly to wild-type ES cells. Thus, grafting mouse ES cells into chicken embryos provides a new cellular system that allows both in vitro and in vivo studies of the molecular mechanisms controlling dorsolateral migration.

Classification of segmental vitiligo on the trunk

“…Subsequently, these melanoblasts migrate from the dermis into the epidermis and differentiate into mature and functional melanocytes. 6 It has been shown that defects in the signalling pathways that affect embryological cell migration are involved in other pigmentary disorders such as piebaldism. Piebaldism is linked to c-kit mutations and has a predominant ventral distribution.…”

The chick embryo: hatching a model for contemporary biomedical research

“…In an early report, mouse ES cells grafted as cell aggregates between the somites and neural tube of the chick embryo were shown to be able to respond to their environment and follow the ventral and dorsolateral crest migration pathways. (33) Injection of genetically modified ES cell lines into the chick embryo allows a direct comparison of transgenic ES cells to wild-type controls, providing a rapid assay for the effect of candidate genes on ES cell behaviour in vivo. This approach is also useful for evaluating the properties of ES-derived lineages obtained in vitro after differentiation treatment, (34,35) sometimes used in conjunction with a cell sorting step.…”

Transplantation of Mammalian Embryonic Stem Cells and Their Derivatives to Avian Embryos

“…Melanocytes differentiate from a transient stem cell population, the neural crest (NC) that migrates dorsolaterally to populate the skin and provide its pigmentation. In order to investigate the role of β1-integrin in this directional migration, Larue and collaborators first grafted small aggregates of mESC into the NC migration pathway of approximately embryonic day (E)2 chick embryos [6]. The cells were engineered to stably express Lac-z, and therefore could be easily traced using histochemistry.…”