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ErratumEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract. (Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews)
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - September 10, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Tags: Erratum Source Type: journals

Molecular regulation of vertebrate retina cell fateEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The specification of retinal cell fate is a multistep process that begins during early development and results from the spatio-temporal coordination of cell cycle, cell differentiation, and morphogenesis. This review focuses on recent advances in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the distinct steps of retinal specification. Emphasis is placed on key regulatory events that control the multipotency of retinal progenitors, the generation of cell diversity, and the establishment of the clock that determines the ordered generation of retinal cell types. These basic studies have paved the way to the latest progre...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - September 10, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Massimiliano Andreazzoli Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Saving hearts through basic researchEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Despite the recent advances in molecular medicine and health care, cardiovascular diseases are still the leading cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. In 2006, nearly every other death in Germany resulted from disease of the circulatory system, and congenital heart diseases are thought to account for a high number of stillbirths and spontaneous abortions. Remarkable progress in basic research over the past decades has improved our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that govern a cardiac fate and has helped to establish cell-based therapeutic approaches to improve the course of cardiovascular disease...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - September 10, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Ioan Ovidiu Sirbu, Petra Pandur Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Epidermal patterning and induction of different hair types during mouse embryonic developmentEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
An intriguing question in developmental biology is how epidermal pattern formation processes are established and what are the molecular mechanisms involved in these events. The establishment of the pattern is concomitant with the formation of ectodermal appendages, which involves complex interactions between the epithelium and the underlying mesenchyme. Among ectodermal appendages, hair follicles are the "mini organs" that produce hair shafts. Several developmental and structural features are common to all hair follicles and to the hair shaft they produce. However, many different hair types are produced in a single organis...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - September 10, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Olivier Duverger, Maria I. Morasso Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Neural induction and factors that stabilize a neural fateEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The neural ectoderm of vertebrates forms when the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling pathway is suppressed. Herein, we review the molecules that directly antagonize extracellular BMP and the signaling pathways that further contribute to reduce BMP activity in the neural ectoderm. Downstream of neural induction, a large number of "neural fate stabilizing" (NFS) transcription factors are expressed in the presumptive neural ectoderm, developing neural tube and ultimately in neural stem cells. Herein, we review what is known about their activities during normal development to maintain a neural fate and regulate neural ...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - September 10, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Crystal D. Rogers, Sally A. Moody, Elena S. Casey Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Pancreas cell fateEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Diabetes is characterized by decreased function of insulin-producing [beta] cells and insufficient insulin output resulting from an absolute (Type 1) or relative (Type 2) inadequate functional [beta] cell mass. Both forms of the disease would greatly benefit from treatment strategies that could enhance [beta] cell regeneration and/or function. Successful and reliable methods of generating [beta] cells or whole islets from progenitor cells in vivo or in vitro could lead to restoration of [beta] cell mass in individuals with Type 1 diabetes and enhanced [beta] cell compensation in Type 2 patients. A thorough understanding of...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - September 10, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Michelle A. Guney, Maureen Gannon Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Lymphatic developmentEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The lymphatic system is essential for fluid homeostasis, immune responses, and fat absorption, and is involved in many pathological processes, including tumor metastasis and lymphedema. Despite its importance, progress in understanding the origins and early development of this system has been hampered by lack of defining molecular markers and difficulties in observing lymphatic cells in vivo and performing genetic and experimental manipulation of the lymphatic system. Recent identification of new molecular markers, new genes with important functional roles in lymphatic development, and new experimental models for studying ...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - September 10, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Matthew G. Butler, Sumio Isogai, Brant M. Weinstein Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Specification of cell fate in the mammalian cochleaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Mammalian auditory sensation is mediated by the organ of Corti, a specialized sensory epithelium found in the cochlea of the inner ear. Proper auditory function requires that the many different cell types found in the sensory epithelium be precisely ordered within an exquisitely patterned cellular mosaic. The development of this mosaic depends on a series of cell fate decisions that transform the initially nearly uniform cochlear epithelium into the complex structure of the mature organ of Corti. The prosensory domain, which contains the progenitors of both the mechanosensory hair cells and their associated supporting cell...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - September 10, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Elizabeth C. Driver, Matthew W. Kelley Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Cell fate determination during tooth development and regenerationEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Teeth arise from sequential and reciprocal interactions between the oral epithelium and the underlying cranial neural crest-derived mesenchyme. Their formation involves a precisely orchestrated series of molecular and morphogenetic events, and gives us the opportunity to discover and understand the nature of the signals that direct cell fates and patterning. For that reason, it is important to elucidate how signaling factors work together in a defined number of cells to generate the diverse and precise patterned structures of the mature functional teeth. Over the last decade, substantial research efforts have been directed...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - August 31, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Thimios A. Mitsiadis, Daniel Graf Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Genetic regulatory networks of nephrogenesis: Deregulation of WT1 splicing by benzo(a)pyreneEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Recent studies have identified AHR as a master regulator of Wilms' tumor suppressor gene (WT1) signaling in the developing kidney. Activation of AHR signaling by environmental chemical is associated with proteasome-mediated degradation of AHR protein, disruption of WT1 alternative splicing, and marked alterations in the regulation of genetic programs of developmental progression in the developing kidney. The complexity of genetic regulatory networks of nephrogenesis controlled by AHR-WT1 interactions will be discussed here with particular emphasis given to the biological and medical consequences that may result from defici...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - June 14, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Kenneth S. Ramos, Adrian Nanez Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Gene regulatory networks in embryonic stem cells and brain developmentEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are endowed with the ability to generate multiple cell lineages and carry great therapeutic potentials in regenerative medicine. Future application of ESCs in human health and diseases will embark on the delineation of molecular mechanisms that define the biology of ESCs. Here, we discuss how the finite ESC components mediate the intriguing task of brain development and exhibit biomedical potentials to cure diverse neurological disorders. Birth Defects Research (Part C) 87:182-191, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. (Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews)
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - June 14, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Dhimankrishna Ghosh, Xiaowei Yan, Qiang Tian Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

A review on data mining and continuous optimization applications in computational biology and medicineEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article surveys data mining and machine learning methods for an analysis of complex systems in computational biology. It mathematically deepens recent advances in modeling and prediction by rigorously introducing the environment and aspects of errors and uncertainty into the genetic context within the framework of matrix and interval arithmetics. Given the data from DNA microarray experiments and environmental measurements, we extract nonlinear ordinary differential equations which contain parameters that are to be determined. This is done by a generalized Chebychev approximation and generalized semi-infinite optimiza...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - June 14, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber, Süreyya Özö[gbreve]ür-Akyüz, Erik Kropat Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Apprehending multicellularity: Regulatory networks, genomics, and evolutionyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The genomic revolution has provided the first glimpses of the architecture of regulatory networks. Combined with evolutionary information, the "network view" of life processes leads to remarkable insights into how biological systems have been shaped by various forces. This understanding is critical because biological systems, including regulatory networks, are not products of engineering but of historical contingencies. In this light, we attempt a synthetic overview of the natural history of regulatory networks operating in the development and differentiation of multicellular organisms. We first introduce regulatory networ...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - June 14, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: L. Aravind, Vivek Anantharaman, Thiago M. Venancio Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Dynamical approaches to modeling developmental gene regulatory networksEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The network of interacting regulatory signals within a cell comprises one of the most complex and powerful computational systems in biology. Gene regulatory networks (GRNs) play a key role in transforming the information encoded in a genome into morphological form. To achieve this feat, GRNs must respond to and integrate environmental signals with their internal dynamics in a robust and coordinated fashion. The highly dynamic nature of this process lends itself to interpretation and analysis in the language of dynamical models. Modeling provides a means of systematically untangling the complicated structure of GRNs, a fram...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - June 14, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Nicholas Geard, Kai Willadsen Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Building developmental gene regulatory networksEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Animal development is an elaborate process programmed by genomic regulatory instructions. Regulatory genes encode transcription factors and signal molecules, and their expression is under the control of cis-regulatory modules that define the logic of transcriptional responses to the inputs of other regulatory genes. The functional linkages among regulatory genes constitute the gene regulatory networks (GRNs) that govern cell specification and patterning in development. Constructing such networks requires identification of the regulatory genes involved and characterization of their temporal and spatial expression patterns. ...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - May 31, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Enhu Li, Eric H. Davidson Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Gonadoblastoma locus and the TSPY gene on the human Y chromosomeEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The gonadoblastoma (GBY) locus is the only oncogenic locus on the human Y chromosome. It is postulated to serve a normal function in the testis, but could exert oncogenic effects in dysgenetic gonads of individuals with intersex and/or dysfunctional testicular phenotypes. Recent studies establish the testis-specific protein Y-encoded (TSPY) gene to be the putative gene for GBY. TSPY serves normal functions in male stem germ cell proliferation and differentiation, but is ectopically expressed in early and late stages of gonadoblastomas, testicular carcinoma in situ (the premalignant precursor for all testicular germ cell tu...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - March 20, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Yun-Fai Chris Lau, Yunmin Li, Tatsuo Kido Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Recent developments in testicular germ cell tumor researchEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Testicular germ cell tumors of adolescents and adults (TGCTs; the so-called type II variant) are the most frequent malignancies found in Caucasian males between 20 and 40 years of age. The incidence has increased over the last decades. TGCTs are divided into seminomas and nonseminomas, the latter consisting of the subgroups embryonal carcinoma, yolk-sac tumor, teratoma, and choriocarcinoma. The pathogenesis starts in utero, involving primordial germ cells/gonocytes that are blocked in their differentiation, and develops via the precursor lesion carcinoma in situ toward invasiveness. TGCTs are totipotent and can be consider...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - March 20, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Gert-Jan M. van de Geijn, Remko Hersmus, Leendert H. J. Looijenga Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Current knowledge in the renewal capability of germ cells in the adult ovaryEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
It is a central dogma in reproductive biology that oogenesis is completed before or just after birth and that the postnatal ovary is endowed by a fixed and non-renewing number of oocytes in mammals. However, this widely accepted doctrine was recently challenged by studies showing regeneration of oocytes from putative germ cells in bone marrow and peripheral blood. These results not only triggered an enormous amount of interest among reproductive biologists but also a great deal of debate. In this review we will provide an update on the molecular aspects of the formation of primordial germ cells (PGC), the precursors of adu...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - March 20, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Ozgur Oktem, Kutluk Oktay Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Immune physiology and oogenesis in fetal and adult humans, ovarian infertility, and totipotency of adult ovarian stem cellsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
It is still widely believed that while oocytes in invertebrates and lower vertebrates are periodically renewed throughout life, oocytes in humans and higher vertebrates are formed only during the fetal/perinatal period. However, this dogma is questioned, and clashes with Darwinian evolutionary theory. Studies of oogenesis and follicular renewal from ovarian stem cells (OSCs) in adult human ovaries, and of the role of third-party bone marrow-derived cells (monocyte-derived tissue macrophages and T lymphocytes) could help provide a better understanding of the causes of ovarian infertility, its prevention, and potential treat...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - March 20, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Antonin Bukovsky, Michael R. Caudle, Irma Virant-Klun, Satish K. Gupta, Roberto Dominguez, Marta Svetlikova, Fei Xu Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Genomic landscape of developing male germ cellsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Spermatogenesis is a highly orchestrated developmental process by which spermatogonia develop into mature spermatozoa. This process involves many testis- or male germ cell-specific gene products whose expressions are strictly regulated. In the past decade the advent of high-throughput gene expression analytical techniques has made functional genomic studies of this process, particularly in model animals such as mice and rats, feasible and practical. These studies have just begun to reveal the complexity of the genomic landscape of the developing male germ cells. Over 50% of the mouse and rat genome are expressed during tes...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - March 20, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Tin-Lap Lee, Alan Lap-Yin Pang, Owen M. Rennert, Wai-Yee Chan Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Signaling pathways in spermatogonial stem cells and their disruption by toxicantsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Spermatogenesis is a complex biological process that is particularly sensitive to environmental insults such as chemicals and physical stressors. Exposure to specific chemicals has been shown to inhibit fertility through a negative impact on germ cell proliferation and differentiation that can lower sperm count. In addition, toxicants might produce DNA damages that could have negative consequences on the development of the offspring. This review describes spermatogonial stem cell development in the testis, signaling pathways that are crucial for self-renewal, and possible target molecules for environmental toxicants such a...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - March 20, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Benjamin Lucas, Christopher Fields, Marie-Claude Hofmann Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Spermatogonial stem cells: Mouse and human comparisonsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) have unique characteristics in that they produce sperm that transmit genetic information from generation to generation and they can be reprogrammed spontaneously to form embryonic stem (ES)-like cells to acquire pluripotency. In rodents, it is generally believed that the A-single (As) is the stem cell population, whereas the A-paired (Apr) and A-aligned (Aal) represent the progenitor spermatogonial population. The A1 to A4 cells, intermediate, and type B spermatogonia are considered differentiated spermatogonia. In human, very little information is available about SSCs, except for the earli...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - March 20, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Martin Dym, Maria Kokkinaki, Zuping He Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Gonocytes, the forgotten cells of the germ cell lineageEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Male germ cells, the repository cells of the genome, comprise several successive developmental stages starting in the embryo and ending up with the spermatozoon. Gonocytes represent the fetal and neonatal stages preceding the formation of spermatogonial stem cells. Recent findings shows that germline stem cells can be driven to pluripotency and used as alternative for embryonic stem cells prompted more effort in identifying the processes regulating the development of their precursors, the testicular gonocytes. Also called pre- or pro-spermatogonia, gonocytes represent not one, but several successive developmental stages be...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - March 1, 2009 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Martine Culty Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Engineered microenvironments for human stem cellsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Regulation of cell differentiation and assembly remains a fundamental question in developmental biology. During development, tissues emerge from coordinated sequences of the renewal, differentiation, and assembly of stem cells. Likewise, regeneration of an adult tissue is driven by the migration and differentiation of repair cells. The fields of stem cells and regenerative medicine are starting to realize how important is the entire context of the cell environment, with the presence of other cells, three-dimensional matrices, and sequences of molecular and physical morphogens. The premise is that to unlock the full potenti...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - December 9, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Amandine F. G. Godier, Darja Marolt, Sharon Gerecht, Urska Tajnsek, Timothy P. Martens, Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Regeneration in medicine: A plastic surgeons "tail" of disease, stem cells, and a possible futureEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Regeneration in medicine is a concept that has roots dating back to the earliest known records of medical interventions. Unfortunately, its elusive promise has still yet to become a reality. In the field of plastic surgery, we use the common tools of the surgeon grounded in basic operative principles to achieve the present day equivalent of regenerative medicine. These reconstructive efforts involve a broad range of clinical deformities, both congenital and acquired. Outlined in this review are comments on clinical conditions and the current limitations to reconstruct these clinical entities in the effort to practice regen...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - December 9, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Edward J. Caterson, Stephanie A. Caterson Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Skeletal muscle tissue engineering approaches to abdominal wall hernia repairEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abdominal wall hernias resulting from prior incisions are a common surgical complication affecting hundreds of thousands of Americans each year. The negative consequences associated with abdominal hernias may be considerable, including pain, bowel incarceration, vascular disruption, organ loss, and death. Current clinical approaches for the treatment of abdominal wall hernias focus on the implantation of permanent biomaterial meshes or acellular xenografts. However, these approaches are not infrequently associated with postoperative infections, chronic sinuses, or small bowel obstruction. Furthermore, the most critical com...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - December 9, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Erin E. Falco, J. Scott Roth, John P. Fisher Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Phosphate: Known and potential roles during development and regeneration of teeth and supporting structuresEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Inorganic phosphate (Pi) is abundant in cells and tissues as an important component of nucleic acids and phospholipids, a source of high-energy bonds in nucleoside triphosphates, a substrate for kinases and phosphatases, and a regulator of intracellular signaling. The majority of the body's Pi exists in the mineralized matrix of bones and teeth. Systemic Pi metabolism is regulated by a cast of hormones, phosphatonins, and other factors via the bone-kidney-intestine axis. Mineralization in bones and teeth is in turn affected by homeostasis of Pi and inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi), with further regulation of the Pi/PPi ratio ...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - December 9, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Brian L. Foster, Kevin A. Tompkins, R. Bruce Rutherford, Hai Zhang, Emily Y. Chu, Hanson Fong, Martha J. Somerman Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Mammalian regeneration and regenerative medicineEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Mammals are generally considered to be poor regenerators, yet there are a handful of mammalian models that display a robust ability to regenerate. One such system is the regenerating tips of digits in both humans and mice. In vitro studies of regenerating fetal human and mouse digit tips display both anatomical and molecular similarities, indicating that the mouse digit is a clinically relevant model. At the same time, genetic studies on mouse digit tip regeneration have identified signaling pathways required for the regeneration response that parallel those known to be important for regeneration in lower vertebrates. In a...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - December 9, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Ken Muneoka, Christopher H. Allan, Xiaodong Yang, Jangwoo Lee, Manjong Han Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Regeneration: Rewarding, but potentially riskyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Some bilaterally symmetric animals, such as flatworms, annelids, and nemerteans, are renowned for their outstanding regeneration capacity - even a fraction of the body can give rise to a complete new animal. However, not all species of these taxa can regenerate equally well - some cannot regenerate at all. If regeneration was purely beneficial, why cannot all of members of the flat, round, and ribbon worms regenerate? At that, why cannot all other bilaterians, including humans, regenerate as well? Regeneration capacity is an obvious advantage in accidental, predatory, and parasitic loss of body parts and is also closely in...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - December 1, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Bernhard Egger Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Chicken embryo as a model for regenerative medicineEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Although the chick embryo, including its extraembryonic membranes, has long been used as a model for developmental biology, its potential as a model for the repair and regeneration of adult human tissues is often overlooked. The chick offers a well-defined profile of intercellular and intracellular signaling pathways regulating the development of nearly every organ system in conjunction with great flexibility for chimeric and transgenic experiments. Depending upon the system of interest, the chick can either directly reflect the human condition, as in spinal cord repair or in chorioallantoic membrane wound healing, and the...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - September 4, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Cynthia M. Coleman Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Collagen fibrillogenesis in tendon development: Current models and regulation of fibril assemblyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Tendons are collagen-based fibrous tissues that connect and transmit forces from muscle to bone. These tissues, which are high in collagen type I content, have been studied extensively to understand collagen fibrillogenesis. Although the mechanisms have not been fully elucidated, our understanding has continued to progress. Here, we review two prevailing models of collagen fibrillogenesis and discuss the regulation of the process by candidate cellular and extracellular matrix molecules. Although numerous molecules have been implicated in the regulation of collagen fibrillogenesis, we focus on those that have been suggested...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - September 4, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Charles C. Banos, Amelia H. Thomas, Catherine K. Kuo Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Role of p53 family in birth defects: Lessons from zebrafishEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
p53 protein family is an important teratologic suppressor, but in certain conditions it can cause congenital abnormalities. p53 family performs this dual role in development by integrating information from cell's interior with that from the environment to determine the choice between life and death. Understanding of p53 family developmental functions may lead to new therapeutic approaches for treatment and prevention of birth defects. Zebrafish is becoming the vertebrate system of choice for studying p53 family role in development. Birth Defects Research (Part C) 84:215-227, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. (Source: Birth De...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - September 4, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Nadia Danilova, Kathleen M. Sakamoto, Shuo Lin Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Quantitative mechanical evaluation and analysis of Drosophila embryos through the stages of embryogenesisEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The fruit fly Drosophila embryo is one of the most important model organisms in genetics and developmental biology research. To better understand the biomechanical properties involved in Drosophila embryo research, this work presents a mechanical characterization of living Drosophila embryos through the stages of embryogenesis. Measurements of the mechanical forces of Drosophila embryos are implemented using a novel, in situ, and minimally invasive force sensing tool with a resolution in the range of [mu]N. The measurements offer an essential understanding of penetration force profiles during the microinjection of Drosophi...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - September 4, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Yantao Shen, Rui Zhang, Scott Cozen, Ning Xi, Uchechukwa C. Wejinya, Lina Hao Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Sea urchin development: An alternative model for mechanistic understanding of neurodevelopment and neurotoxicityEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Echinoderm early developmental stages might supply a good tool for toxicity testing in different fields, ranging from environment to food contamination, and in full respect of the 3Rs objectives (reduction, refinement, and replacement of animal experiments) that will eventually lead to the replacement of high vertebrate animal testing in toxicology. Sea urchin is one of the few organismic models considered by the European Agency for Alternative models. Actually, sea urchin embryonic development has been studied for over a century, and the complex nets of intercellular communications leading to the different events are well...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - September 4, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Carla Falugi, Maria Lammerding-Koppel, Maria Grazia Aluigi Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

The basal chordate amphioxus as a simple model for elucidating developmental mechanisms in vertebratesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This review examines the basal chordate, amphioxus, as a simple model for providing insights into the development and evolution of the vertebrates, with which it shares many features, including a pharynx perforated with gill slits, a dorsal nerve cord, segmented muscles, and a notochord. Conversely, amphioxus is simpler than vertebrates in lacking neural crest and paired cephalic sensory organs. Amphioxus embryos are less derived than those of vertebrates, because it lacks large quantities of yolk and/or extra-embryonic tissues. Embryogenesis involves only a simple folding of tissue layers. In addition, the amphioxus genom...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - September 1, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Demian Koop, Linda Z. Holland Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

When "personhood" begins in the embryo: Avoiding a Syllabus of ErrorsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The following essay was delivered at the conference "Ontogeny and Human Life" at the Ponifical Athenaeum "Regina Apostolorum," November, 2007. Sponsored by the Legion of Christ, the Pontifical Academy for Life, and the John Templeton Foundation, the sessions focused on when the conceptus became a "person." My essay focused on the scientific conclusions that could aid such discussions. Moreover, after listening to the philosophical, legal, and theological discussions that ensued, I responded theologically as well. New concepts in modern embryology have made scientists revise their views concerning the autonomy of embryos an...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - June 10, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Scott F. Gilbert Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Paternal environmental exposures and gene expression during spermatogenesis: Research review to research frameworkEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The primary objective is to review Dioxin toxicity, the potential impact on spermatogenesis, what is known and unknown about paternal exposures, and the potential mechanisms whereby paternal preconception exposures result in neural tube defects (NTD). The secondary goal is to suggest a versatile research framework utilizing gene expression microarray to evaluate the impact of acute, intermittent, and chronic paternal exposures to environmental agents on gene expression during the stages of spermatogenesis. There are multiple barriers to establishing a paradigm whereby paternal environmental exposures result in adverse birt...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - June 10, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Deborah A. Hansen Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Regulation of cartilage formation and maturation by mitogen-activated protein kinase signalingEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The majority of bones comprising the adult vertebrate skeleton are generated from hyaline cartilage templates that form during embryonic development. A process known as endochondral ossification is responsible for the conversion of these transient cartilage anlagen into mature, calcified bone. Endochondral ossification is a highly regulated, multistep cell specification program involving the initial differentiation of prechondrogenic mesenchymal cells into hyaline chondrocytes, terminal differentiation of hyaline chondrocytes into hypertrophic chondrocytes, and finally, apoptosis of hypertrophic chondrocytes followed by bo...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - June 10, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Brent E. Bobick, William M. Kulyk Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Transcriptional regulators of chondrocyte hypertrophyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Coordinated transition from proliferation to terminal differentiation and hypertrophy of growth plate chondrocytes is required for normal growth of endochondral bones and thus determines final height in humans. Over the last decades, transcription factors of the Sox and Runx families have been shown to be the central regulators of this process. More recently, numerous additional transcription factors have been identified as positive or negative regulators of chondrocyte hypertrophy, such as Shox/Shox2, Dlx5, and MEF2C. These factors do not only control skeletal development and growth, but might also participate in ectopic ...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - June 10, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Lauren A. Solomon, Nathalie G. Bérubé, Frank Beier Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Cell biology of embryonic migrationEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Cell migration is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism that underlies the development and functioning of uni- and multicellular organisms and takes place in normal and pathogenic processes, including various events of embryogenesis, wound healing, immune response, cancer metastases, and angiogenesis. Despite the differences in the cell types that take part in different migratory events, it is believed that all of these migrations occur by similar molecular mechanisms, whose major components have been functionally conserved in evolution and whose perturbation leads to severe developmental defects. These mechanisms involve ...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - June 10, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Satoshi Kurosaka, Anna Kashina Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Fluid dynamics of establishing left-right patterning in developmentEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
How does the clockwise motion of tens of monocilia drive a leftward flow in the node? And, as the observed flow is leftward, how is the fluid recirculating within the node, as it must, because the node is a closed structure? How does the nodal flow lead to left-right symmetry breaking in the embryo? These questions are within the realm of fluid physics, whose application to the problem of left-right symmetry breaking in vertebrates has led to important advances in the field. Birth Defects Research (Part C) 84:95-101, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. (Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews)
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - June 10, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Julyan H. E. Cartwright, Nicolas Piro, Oreste Piro, Idan Tuval Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Insights into the establishment of left-right asymmetries in vertebratesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The body-plan of vertebrates, while exteriorly essentially symmetric along its medio-lateral plane, displays numerous left-right differences in the disposition and placement of internal organs. Such left-right asymmetries, established during embryogenesis, are controlled by complex epigenetic and genetic cascades that impart laterality information to the different embryo structures and organ primordia. A key and evolutionarily conserved feature of these information cascades among vertebrate embryos is the left-sided transfer of information from the node to the lateral plate mesoderm during early somitogenesis stages. We re...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - June 1, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Ángel Raya, Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Reducing harm from tobacco smoke exposure during pregnancyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article discusses the scope for clinicians to help reduce both types of tobacco smoke exposure in pregnancy, with a specific focus on available and effective interventions for smoking cessation by pregnant women. Behavioral support with smoking cessation is the only intervention that has been proven to encourage smoking cessation in pregnancy and reduces smoking rates in late pregnancy by 6 to 7%. There are physiological reasons to suspect that nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) will be less or (in)effective for smoking cessation in pregnancy when compared with its use by nonpregnant smokers. However, there are also s...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - March 26, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Tim Coleman Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

In vitro assessment of reproductive toxicity of tobacco smoke and its constituentsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Epidemiological studies have repeatedly shown that reproductive processes in pregnant women are adversely affected by exposure to cigarette smoke. The potential reproductive targets of smoke during pregnancy include the ovaries, oviducts, uterus, placenta, umbilical cord, and embryo/fetus. In vitro methods for studying the effects of smoke and its individual components have been developed and applied to each of these reproductive targets. In vitro assays have been useful in determining the biological processes that are affected in the reproductive organs and in identifying the cellular and molecular targets of smoke in eac...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - March 26, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Prudence Talbot Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Detrimental effects of tobacco smoke exposure during development on postnatal lung function and asthmaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) during fetal development and early postnatal life is perhaps the most ubiquitous and hazardous of children's environmental exposures. The developing lung is highly susceptible to ETS. A large body of literature links both prenatal maternal smoking and children's ETS exposure to decreased lung growth. This review summarizes the state of the knowledge, including both human epidemiology and laboratory animal experiments, linking ETS, lung development, and respiratory outcomes. Important issues discussed include lung development and lung function and asthma in relation to ETS expos...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - March 26, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Lei Wang, Kent E. Pinkerton Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Nicotine and lung developmentEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Nicotine is found in tobacco smoke. It is a habit forming substance and is prescribed by health professionals to assist smokers to quit smoking. It is rapidly absorbed from the lungs of smokers. It crosses the placenta and accumulates in the developing fetus. Nicotine induces formation of oxygen radicals and at the same time also reduces the antioxidant capacity of the lungs. Nicotine and the oxidants cause point mutations in the DNA molecule, thereby changing the program that controls lung growth and maintenance of lung structure. The data available indicate that maternal nicotine exposure induces a persistent inhibition ...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - March 26, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Gert S. Maritz Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Nicotine and brain developmentEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Preclinical studies, using primarily rodent models, have shown acetylcholine to have a critical role in brain maturation via activation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), a structurally diverse family of ligand-gated ion channels. nAChRs are widely expressed in fetal central nervous system, with transient upregulation in numerous brain regions during critical developmental periods. Activation of nAChRs can have varied developmental influences that are dependent on the pharmacologic properties and localization of the receptor. These include regulation of transmitter release, gene expression, neurite outgrowth, c...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - March 26, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Jennifer B. Dwyer, Ron S. Broide, Frances M. Leslie Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Review on genetic variants and maternal smoking in the etiology of oral clefts and other birth defectsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article includes a review of studies investigating interactions between genetic variants and maternal smoking in contributing to birth defects using oral clefting as a model birth defect. The primary gene-smoking studies for other major birth defects are also summarized. Gene-environment interaction studies for birth defects are still at an early stage with several mixed results, but evolving research findings have begun to document clinically and developmentally important interactions. As samples and data become increasingly available, more effort is needed in designing innovative analytical methods to study gene-env...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - March 26, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Min Shi, George L. Wehby, Jeffrey C. Murray Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Tobacco and pregnancy: Overview of exposures and effectsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This opening article will review the epidemiology of the effects of cigarette smoking and other forms of tobacco exposure on human development. Sources of exposure described include cigarettes and other forms of smoked tobacco, secondhand (environmental) tobacco smoke, several forms of smokeless tobacco, and nicotine from nicotine replacement therapy. Exposure is immense and worldwide, most of it due to smoking, but in some parts of the world and in some populations, smoking is exceeded by smokeless tobacco use. Nicotine and carbon monoxide exposure are of large concern, but cigarette smoke contains over 4000 chemical cons...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - March 1, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: John M. Rogers Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals

Synthetic tissue biology: Tissue engineering meets synthetic biologyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We propose the term "synthetic tissue biology" to describe the use of engineered tissues to form biological systems with metazoan-like complexity. The increasing maturity of tissue engineering is beginning to render this goal attainable. As in other synthetic biology approaches, the perspective is bottom-up; here, the premise is that complex functional phenotypes (on par with those in whole metazoan organisms) can be effected by engineering biology at the tissue level. To be successful, current efforts to understand and engineer multicellular systems must continue, and new efforts to integrate different tissues into a cohe...
Source: Birth Defects Research Part C: Embryo Today: Reviews - January 28, 2008 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Samuel K. Sia, Brian M. Gillette, Genevieve J. Yang Tags: Reviews Source Type: journals