From neural crest cells to melanocytes: cellular plasticity during development and beyond.

From neural crest cells to melanocytes: cellular plasticity during development and beyond.
Cell Mol Life Sci. 2019 Mar 04;:
Authors: Vandamme N, Berx G
Abstract
Here, we review melanocyte development and how the embryonic melanoblast, although specified to become a melanocyte, is prone to cellular plasticity and is not fully committed to the melanocyte lineage. Even fully differentiated and pigment-producing melanocytes do not always have a stable phenotype. The gradual lineage restriction of neural crest cells toward the melanocyte lineage is determined by both cell-intrinsic and extracellular signals in which differentiation and pathfinding ability reciprocally influence each other. These signals are leveraged by subtle differences in timing and axial positioning. The most extensively studied migration route is the dorsolateral path between the dermomyotome and the prospective epidermis, restricted to melanoblasts. In addition, the embryonic origin of the skin dermis through which neural crest derivatives migrate may also affect the segregation between melanogenic and neurogenic cells in embryos. It is widely accepted that, irrespective of the model organism studied, the immediate precursor of both melanoblast and neurogenic populations is a glial-melanogenic bipotent progenitor. Upon exposure to different conditions, melanoblasts may differentiate into other neural crest-derived lineages such as neuronal cells and vice versa. Key ...

Source: Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences : CMLS - March 3, 2019 Category: Cytology Authors: Vandamme N, Berx G Tags: Cell Mol Life Sci Source Type: research