First published online December 12, 2006
Development 134, 103e (2007)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
Gastric cell differentiation: from the neck down
In the mammalian stomach, digestion is initiated by acids, digestive
enzymes (zymogens) and mucus secreted by different types of gastric epithelial
cells. These cells are constantly replenished from adult stem cells but,
strangely, zymogenic cells (ZC) seem to arise from mucus-secreting neck cells
instead of directly from stem cells, a route that probably involves
dismantling the secretory apparatus of neck cells. On
p. 211, Ramsey and
co-workers confirm that this unlikely conversion occurs, and that it requires
the transcription factor Mist1. The researchers analyzed gene expression in
gastric cells purified from mouse stomach by laser capture microdissection and
identified Mist1 as a potential ZC regulatory factor. Their detailed study of
gastric unit differentiation in Mist-/- and wild-type mice
indicates that ZC progenitors arise as neck cells that become transitional
cells with characteristics of both mature cell types. This new information
about ZC differentiation should help researchers discover why this
developmental pathway is aberrant in precancerous lesions of the stomach.
Related articles in Development:
- The maturation of mucus-secreting gastric epithelial progenitors into digestive-enzyme secreting zymogenic cells requires Mist1
- Victoria G. Ramsey, Jason M. Doherty, Christopher C. Chen, Thaddeus S. Stappenbeck, Stephen F. Konieczny, and Jason C. Mills
Development 2007 134: 211-222.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
