Neural plate

Lepperdinger, G., el al. (1996). The lipocalin Xlcpll expressed in the neural plate of Xenopus laevis embryos is a secreted retinaldehyde binding protein. Protein Scl 5, 1250-60. 

Liem, K. J., Tremmel, G., Roelink, H. and Jessel, T. Dorsal differentiation of neural plate cells induced by BMP-mediated signals from epidermal ectoderm. Cell 82 969-979, 1995. 

Ye W, Shimamura K, Rubenstein JL, Hynes MA, Rosenthal A (1998) FGF and Shh signals control dopaminergic and serotonergic cell fate in the anterior neural plate. Cell 93 755-766... 

Shimamura, K., Hartigan, D.J., Martinez, S., Puelles, L., and Rub-enstein, J.L.R (1995) Longitudinal organization of the anterior neural plate an d neural tube. Development 121 3923—3933. 

The central nervous system arises from a thickened area of the ectoderm called the neural plate on day 19 in the human embryo. This process is referred to as induction. The neural plate then differentiates into the neural tube (providing the origins for the brain and spinal cord) and the neural crest (forming the basis of the peripheral nervous system). The process by which the neural tube arises from the neural plate is referred to as neurulation. To form the neural tube, the neural plate changes shape and forms a pronounced groove, closing from the cranial end to the caudal end. The neural tube has openings on both ends that close on about day 25 and day 27, respectively. 

Exposure to retinoic acid, methylnitrosourea, and clomiphene during the early embryonic period, prior to the induction of the neural plate (before day 18 in the human), results in an increased incidence of neural tube defects and other malformations in experimental animal models (Bennett Finnell, 1998). In addition, exposure of rodents to teratogens such as retinoic acid, arsenic, and valproic acid during the period of neurulation results in neural tube defects such as spina bifida and encephaloceles (Adams Lammer, 1993 Bennett Finnell, 1998). Of these, therapeutic use of... 

The vertebrate nervous system including neurons, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and other cells originates from a flat sheet of neuroepithelial cells, constituent of the inner lining of neural plate along the dorsal surface of embryo (Fujita, 2003). These neuroepithelial cells are the earliest precursors in the developing CNS. 

Shimamui a K, Mai tinez S, Puelles L, Rubenstein JL (1997) Patterns of gene expression in tlie neural plate and neui al tube subdivide die embryonic forebrain into ti ansverse and longitudinal domains. Dev Neui osci 19 88—96. 

Thalidomide caused profound alterations in the morphogenesis of the encephalon in the developing chick embryo in vitro. Platyneuria occurred in 82% compared with 23% in the control group. Thahdomide has an inhibitory effect on growth, as measured by failure of closure of the neural plate, which can be reversed by the addition of ATP to the cultures (164). 

Yang, L., Zhang, H., Hu, G., Wang, H., Abate-Shen, C., Shen, M.M. 1998. An early phase of embryonic Dlx5 expression defines the rostral boundary of the neural plate. J. Neurosci. 18, 8322-8330. 

Fig. 1. Neurulation. (A) During the first phase of neurulation, naive uncommitted ectoderm is induced to form neural plate tissue via BMP inhibitory signals (noggin, chordin, follistatin) secreted from the underlying mesoderm. (B) During the second phase of neurulation the two halves of the open neural plate begin to curl up to form a hollow neural tube. During this time neural crest cells (ncc), which express Snail are induced at the neural plate border and begin to migrate in response to Wnt6 and Bmp expression in the surface ectoderm and dorsal neural tube respectively. (See Color Insert.)...

---