Ming Fu, Yoshiharu Sato, Ariel Lyons-Warren, Bin Zhang, Maureen A. Kane, Joseph L. Napoli and Robert O. Heuckeroth. Vitamin A facilitates enteric nervous system precursor migration by reducing Pten accumulation. Development 137, 631-640 (2010) doi:10.1242/dev.040550.
SUMMARY
Hirschsprung disease is a serious disorder of enteric nervous system (ENS) development caused by the failure of ENS precursor migration into the distal bowel. We now demonstrate that retinoic acid (RA) is crucial for GDNF-induced ENS precursor migration, cell polarization and lamellipodia formation, and that vitamin A depletion causes distal bowel aganglionosis in serum retinolbinding-protein-deficient (Rbp4–/–) mice. Ret heterozygosity increases the incidence and severity of distal bowel aganglionosis induced by vitamin A deficiency in Rbp4–/– animals. Furthermore, RA reduces phosphatase and tensin homolog (Pten) accumulation in migrating cells, whereas Pten overexpression slows ENS precursor migration. Collectively, these data support the hypothesis that vitamin A deficiency is a non-genetic risk factor that increases Hirschsprung disease penetrance and expressivity, suggesting that some cases of Hirschsprung disease might be preventable by optimizing maternal nutrition.
Image: E12.5 mouse mid-gut slices were cultured to allow crest-derived cells to migrate onto the dish in response to GDNF. Cultures were maintained for 16 hours without added retinoic acid.
Related Reagents:
Ret (C-Terminus Fused)
Ret-Fluorescein Labeled
Ret-Allophycocyanin Labeled
Ret-Phycoerythrin Labeled
Neurotrophins and Growth Factor Antibodies
Neurotrophins-Neuron/Glial Marker
Recombinant Proteins
Neuron/Glial Markers
Stem Cell Research Reagents
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