Vertebrate Limb Development and Malformations

Molecular Models for Vertebrate Review Limb Development

Mathematical modeling of vertebrate limb development.

In this paper, we review the major mathematical and computational models of vertebrate limb development and their roles in accounting for different aspects of this process. The main aspects of limb development that have been modeled include outgrowth and shaping of the limb bud, establishment of molecular gradients within the bud, and formation of the skeleton. These processes occur interdepend...

Molecular Models for Vertebrate Limb Development

Soon after the AER forms, mesenchy-mal cells aggregate to form cartilage blastemal elements M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Houston, Texas 77030 that prefigure skeletal limb components (Hall and Mi-yake, 1992). Cells directly under the AER remain undif-† Department of Genetics Harvard Medical School ferentiated in the so-called " progress zone, " while condensation initiates in proximal limb regio...

Growing models of vertebrate limb development.

The developing limb has been a very influential system for studying pattern formation in vertebrates. In the past, classical embryological models have explained how patterned structures are generated along the two principal axes of the limb: the proximodistal (shoulder to finger) and anteroposterior (thumb to little finger) axes. Over time, the genetic and molecular attributes of these patterni...

Patterning mechanisms controlling vertebrate limb development.

Vertebrate limb buds are embryonic structures for which much molecular and cellular data are known regarding the mechanisms that control pattern formation during development. Specialized regions of the developing limb bud, such as the zone of polarizing activity (ZPA), the apical ectodermal ridge (AER), and the non-ridge ectoderm, direct and coordinate the development of the limb bud along the ...