Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Lorraine Eley
Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.
The mechanism by which left-right (LR) information is interpreted by organ primordia during asymmetric morphogenesis is largely unknown. We show that spleen and pancreatic laterality is dependent on a specialised, columnar mesodermal-derived cell layer referred to here as the splanchnic mesodermal plate (SMP). At early embryonic stages, the SMP is bilateral, surrounding the midline-located stomach and dorsal pancreatic bud. Under control of the LR asymmetry pathway, the left SMP is maintained and grows laterally. Mice carrying the dominant hemimelia (Dh) mutation lack the SMP. Significantly, the mice are asplenic and the pancreas remains positioned along the embryonic midline. In the absence of Fgf10 expression, the spleno-pancreatic mesenchyme and surrounding SMP grow laterally but contain no endodermal component, showing that leftward growth is autonomous and independent of endoderm. In the Bapx1-/- mutants, the SMP is defective. Normally, the SMP is a source for both Fgf9 and Fgf10; however, in the Bapx1 mutant, Fgf10 expression is downregulated and the dorsal pancreas remains at the midline. We conclude that the SMP is an organiser responsible for the leftward growth of the spleno-pancreatic region and that Bapx1 regulates SMP functions required for pancreatic laterality.
Author(s): Hecksher-Sorensen J, Watson RP, Lettice LA, Serup P, Eley L, De Angelis C, Ahlgren U, Hill RE
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Development
Year: 2004
Volume: 131
Issue: 19
Pages: 4665-4675
ISSN (print): 0950-1991
ISSN (electronic): 1477-9129
Publisher: The Company of Biologists Ltd
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/dev.01364
DOI: 10.1242/dev.01364
PubMed id: 15329346
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
