Rationale:
Cardiac neural crest cells (NCs) contribute to heart morphogenesis by giving rise to a variety of cell types from mesenchyme of the outflow tract, ventricular septum, and semilunar valves to neurons of the cardiac ganglia and smooth muscles of the great arteries. Failure in cardiac NC development results in outflow and ventricular septation defects commonly observed in congenital heart diseases. Cardiac NCs derive from the vagal neural tube, which also gives rise to enteric NCs that colonize the gut; however, so far, molecular mechanisms segregating these 2 populations and driving cardiac NC migration toward the heart have remained elusive.
Objective:
Stromal-derived factor-1 (SDF1) is a chemokine that mediates oriented migration of multiple embryonic cells and mice deficient for
Sdf1
or its receptors,
Cxcr4
and
Cxcr7
, exhibit ventricular septum defects, raising the possibility that SDF1 might selectively drive cardiac NC migration toward the heart via a chemotactic mechanism.
Methods and Results
:
We show in the chick embryo that
Sdf1
expression is tightly coordinated with the progression of cardiac NCs expressing
Cxcr4
.
Cxcr4
loss-of-function causes delayed migration and enhanced death of cardiac NCs, whereas
Sdf1
misexpression results in their diversion from their normal pathway, indicating that SDF1 acts as a chemoattractant for cardiac NCs. These alterations of SDF1 signaling result in severe cardiovascular defects.
Conclusions:
These data identify
Sdf1
and its receptor
Cxcr4
as candidate genes responsible for cardiac congenital pathologies in human.