Role of neural crest during cardiac development in a mouse model of DiGeorge syndrome

Lazaros Kochilas, Sandra Merscher-Gomez, Min Min Lu, Vijaya Potluri, Jun Liao, Raju Kucherlapati, Bernice Morrow, Jonathan A. Epstein

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

73 Scopus citations

Abstract

The velo-cardio-facial syndrome (VCFS)/DiGeorge syndrome (DGS) is a genetic disorder characterized by phenotypic abnormalities of the derivatives of the pharyngeal arches, including cardiac outflow tract defects. Neural crest cells play a major role in the development of the pharyngeal arches, and defects in these cells are likely responsible for the syndrome. Most patients are hemizygous for a 1.5- to 3.0-Mb region of 22q11, that is suspected to be critical for normal pharyngeal arch development. Mice hemizygous for a 1.5-Mb homologous region of chromosome 16 (Lgdel/+) exhibit conotruncal cardiac defects similar to those seen in affected VCFS/DGS patients. To investigate the role of Lgdel genes in neural crest development, we fate mapped neural crest cells in Lgdel/+ mice and we performed hemizygous neural crest-specific inactivation of Lgdel. Hemizygosity of the Lgdel region does not eliminate cardiac neural crest migration to the forming aortic arches. However, neural crest cells do not differentiate appropriately into smooth muscle in both fourth and sixth aortic arches and the affected aortic arch segments develop abnormally. Tissue-specific hemizygous inactivation of Lgdel genes in neural crest results in normal cardiovascular development. Based on our studies, we propose that Lgdel genes are required for the expression of soluble signals that regulate neural crest cell differentiation.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)157-166
Number of pages10
JournalDevelopmental Biology
Volume251
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2002
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Dr. Eric Meyers for kindly providing the mouse Fgf8 and Fgf10 cDNA clones. This work was supported by grants from the NIH (HL62974, HL61475 to J.A.E., HL67448 to L.K., HD34980 to R.K and B.E.M.), the AHA (to J.A.E and B.E.M.), the WW Smith Charitable Trust (to J.A.E.), the Children’s Heart Foundation (to L.K.), and the Nemours Foundation (to L.K.).

Keywords

  • Aortic arches
  • DiGeorge syndrome
  • Pharyngeal arches
  • Smooth muscle
  • Tbx1

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Role of neural crest during cardiac development in a mouse model of DiGeorge syndrome'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this