Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022:2403:263-276.
doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1847-9_18.

Live Imaging of the Dynamics of Mammalian Neural Crest Cell Migration

Emma L Moore  1 , Paul A Trainor  1   2
Affiliations

Live Imaging of the Dynamics of Mammalian Neural Crest Cell Migration

Emma L Moore et al. Methods Mol Biol. 2022.

Abstract

Neural crest cells (NCC) are a multipotent cell population that play an important role in vertebrate development. Often touted as the fourth-germ layer, NCC are induced at the border of the neural and non-neural ectoderm during the neurulation phase of embryogenesis. NCC undergo an epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) that facilitates their delamination and migration throughout the embryo. After reaching their final destination, NCC then differentiate into numerous distinct cell types including neurons and glia, melanocytes, and craniofacial chondrocytes and osteoblasts. Research into the signals and mechanisms regulating each step of NCC development has been instrumental to our understanding of vertebrate development, evolution, and disease. However, studying the single and collective cellular dynamics of mammalian NCC migration has proven difficult due to the challenges accessing, and limitations visualizing, NCC within an embryo that develops in utero. The following chapter describes methods for studying the dynamics of cranial NCC migration in whole mouse embryos and in two-dimensional (2D) and 3D explant cultures of the neural plate, but these methods can be adapted for NCC at any axial level of the embryo.

Keywords: Cell migration; Craniofacial development; Live imaging; Mouse embryo; Neural crest cells; Single-cell dynamics; Whole embryo culture.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Bae CJ, Saint-Jeannet JP (2014) Induction and specification of neural crest cells: extracellular signals and transcriptional switches. In: Trainor P (ed) Neural crest cells: evolution, development and disease. Elsevier Inc., Amsterdam, pp 27–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-401730-6.00002-8 - DOI
    1. Carette MJ, Ferguson MW (1992) The fate of medial edge epithelial cells during palatal fusion in vitro: an analysis by DiI labelling and confocal microscopy. Development 114(2):379–388 - DOI
    1. Hearn CJ, Young HM, Ciampoli D et al (1999) Catenary cultures of embryonic gastrointestinal tract support organ morphogenesis, motility, neural crest cell migration, and cell differentiation. Dev Dyn 214(3):239–247. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0177(199903)214:3<239::AID-AJA7&gt... - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pfaltzgraff ER, Mundell NA, Labosky PA (2012) Isolation and culture of neural crest cells from embryonic murine neural tube. J Vis Exp 64:e4134. https://doi.org/10.3791/4134 - DOI
    1. Gonzalez Malagon SG, Dobson L, Munoz AML et al (2019) Dissection, culture and analysis of primary cranial neural crest cells from mouse for the study of neural crest cell delamination and migration. J Vis Exp 152. https://doi.org/10.3791/60051

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources