Diverse roles of E‐cadherin in the morphogenesis of the submandibular gland: Insights into the formation of acinar and ductal structures

Abstract

The formation of acinar and ductal structures during epithelial tissue branching morphogenesis is not well understood. We report that in the mouse submandibular gland (SMG), acinar and ductal cell fates are determined early in embryonic morphogenesis with E-cadherin playing pivotal roles in development. We

Region‐specific epithelial cell dynamics during branching morphogenesis

“…Static images show that the outer bud cells are more columnar than inner bud cells, with cells aligned adjacent to the epithelium-mesenchyme boundary (Fig. 3) (Walker et al, 2008). These partially columnar cells have cell widths of 5-8 µm and lengths of ~10 µm (J.S.H., unpublished results).…”

Development of Poly(Ethylene Glycol) Hydrogels for Salivary Gland Tissue Engineering Applications

“…E-cadherin plays an important role in the development of the SMG, [51][52][53][54][55] in particular to provide survival signals to maturing duct cells. 55 Recent studies have shown that cells dispersed from salivary gland tissues in mice and humans can self-assemble to acinar-like structures in vitro and display characteristics of native gland structures.…”

“…PEG hydrogels are bioinert, 26 and they lack cell-matrix and cell-cell interactions that are commonly utilized to maintain survivability of sensitive cell types. 32,38,41,49,50 As cell-cell interactions, in particular, play a vital role in salivary gland cell functions in vitro and during gland development, 20,[51][52][53][54][55][56][57] we also explored the use of SMG cell aggregation into microspheres to increase longterm viability of hydrogel-encapsulated SMG cells. Finally, we examined the cellular composition and proliferative potential of the encapsulated SMG microspheres.…”

Salivary Gland Branching Morphogenesis — Recent Progress and Future Opportunities

“…The well-known importance of these latter junctional proteins in securing stable cell-cell adhesions, as well as their strong lumenal up-regulated expression at later stages (E14 onwards), points to the possibility of differential temporal and region-specific regulation of cell-cell interactions during SMG epithelial morphogenesis. Consistent with the possibility that E-cadherin functions in place of other junctional proteins to stabilize external epithelial surfaces, the localization of E-cadherin is considerably stronger between cell junctions of outer bud epithelial cells than those between the inner bud cells (Walker et al, 2008). However, when a cleft forms to interrupt this layer of outer epithelial cells, E-cadherin localization and expression diminish as cell shift from cell-cell to cell-matrix adhesion (Sakai et al, 2003).…”

“…The importance of E-cadherin in SMG branching morphogenesis was established recently by antibody, RNA interference, and gene ablation approaches. SMG branching is inhibited in ex vivo cultures of SMG treated with E-cadherin-specific siRNA or function-blocking anti-E-cadherin antibodies (Walker et al , 2008). SMG epithelial cells dissociated enzymatically into single cells retain the potential to self-organize; they form cellular aggregates that proceed to undergo branching morphogenesis to form tissues with structural features and differentiation markers characteristic of the intact gland (Wei et al , 2007).…”