spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif Online submission spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

First published online 26 March 2008
doi: 10.1242/dev.015495

Development 135, 1625-1634 (2008)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2008
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary Material
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
dev.015495v1
135/9/1625    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Rajagopal, J.
Right arrow Articles by Melton, D. A.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Rajagopal, J.
Right arrow Articles by Melton, D. A.

Wnt7b stimulates embryonic lung growth by coordinately increasing the replication of epithelium and mesenchyme

Jayaraj Rajagopal1,2,3, Thomas J. Carroll4, J. Sawalla Guseh1,2,3, Sam A. Bores1,2, Leah J. Blank1,2, William J. Anderson1,2, Jing Yu5, Qiao Zhou1,2, Andrew P. McMahon1 and Douglas A. Melton1,2,*

1 Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
2 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
3 Department of Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
4 Department of Internal Medicine, Department of Molecular Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
5 Department of Cell Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA.

* Author for correspondence (e-mail: dmelton{at}harvard.edu)

Accepted 29 February 2008

The effects of Wnt7b on lung development were examined using a conditional Wnt7b-null mouse. Wnt7b-null lungs are markedly hypoplastic, yet display largely normal patterning and cell differentiation. In contrast to findings in prior hypomorphic Wnt7b models, we find decreased replication of both developing epithelium and mesenchyme, without abnormalities of vascular smooth muscle development. We further demonstrate that Wnt7b signals to neighboring cells to activate both autocrine and paracrine canonical Wnt signaling cascades. In contrast to results from hypomorphic models, we show that Wnt7b modulates several important signaling pathways in the lung. Together, these cascades result in the coordinated proliferation of adjacent epithelial and mesenchymal cells to stimulate organ growth with few alterations in differentiation and patterning.

Key words: Lung organogenesis, Wnt signaling, Organ growth




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Cell Sci.Home page
J. Rajagopal, T. J. Carroll, J. S. Guseh, S. A. Bores, L. J. Blank, W. J. Anderson, J. Yu, Q. Zhou, A. P. McMahon, and D. A. Melton
Wnt7b stimulates embryonic lung growth by coordinately increasing the replication of epithelium and mesenchyme
J. Cell Sci., May 1, 2008; 121(9): e906 - e906.
[Full Text]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2008