Collège de France, 3 Rue d'Ulm, 75005 Paris, France.
Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2012 Aug;22(4):381-9. doi: 10.1016/j.gde.2012.06.001. Epub 2012 Jul 6.
Vertebrates belong to the group of chordates characterized by a dorsal neural tube and an anteroposterior axis, the notochord. They are the only chordates to possess an embryonic and pluripotent structure associated with their neural primordium, the neural crest (NC). The NC is at the origin of multiple cell types and plays a major role in the construction of the head, which has been an important asset in the evolutionary success of vertebrates. We discuss here the contribution of the rostral domain of the NC to craniofacial skeletogenesis. Moreover, recent data show that cephalic NC cells regulate the activity of secondary brain organizers, hence being critical for preotic brain development, a role that had not been suspected before.
脊椎动物属于脊索动物门，其特征为背侧神经管和前后轴，即脊索。它们是唯一拥有与神经原基相关的胚胎和多能结构的脊索动物，即神经嵴（NC）。NC 是多种细胞类型的起源，在头部的构建中起着重要作用，这是脊椎动物进化成功的重要因素。我们在这里讨论 NC 的头部区域对颅面骨骼发生的贡献。此外，最近的数据表明，头侧 NC 细胞调节次级脑组织者的活性，因此对前脑发育至关重要，而这一作用在以前并未被怀疑。
