Tales from the crypt ow many stem cells reside in a human colonic crypt and how do they divide and regenerate? According to the deterministic theory, a small number of " immortal " stem cells haunt a crypt, and when they divide, each generates a single replacement stem cell. The stochastic model, in contrast, contends that a crypt niche harbors many stem cells, and each cell division randomly g...

Bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP7), a member of the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) superfamily of cytokines, is highly expressed in renal tubules and generally promotes maintenance of epithelial phenotype. It was examined whether, during the evolution of experimental diabetic nephropathy, the renal expression of BMP7 and BMP7 receptors declines, and the hypothesis that loss of BMP7...

Mutations in gene encoding for bone morphogenetic protein type 2 receptor (BMPR-2) have been reported in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), but their functional relevance remains incompletely understood. BMP receptors expression was evaluated in human lungs and in cultured pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) isolated from 19 idiopathic PAH patients and 9 heritable PAH patients wit...

Prematurely born infants who require oxygen therapy often develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a debilitating disorder characterized by pronounced alveolar hypoplasia. Hyperoxic injury is believed to disrupt critical signaling pathways that direct lung development, causing BPD. We investigated the effects of normobaric hyperoxia on transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta and bone morphogenet...

Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling pathway plays important roles in urinary tract development although the detailed regulation of its activity in this process remains unclear. Here we report that follistatin-like 1 (Fstl1), encoding a secreted extracellular glycoprotein, is expressed in developing ureter and antagonizes BMP signaling activity. Mouse embryos carrying disrupted Fstl1 gene...

The identification of molecules that regulate human hematopoietic stem cells has focused mainly on cytokines, of which very few are known to act directly on stem cells. Recent studies in lower organisms and the mouse have suggested that bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) may play a critical role in the specification of hematopoietic tissue from the mesodermal germ layer. Here we report that BMP...

Directing stem cells and progenitors towards neuronal differentiation – implications for experimental therapies for Parkinson’s disease Anke Brederlau Institute of Biomedicine, Department of Medical Chemistry and Cell Biology, Sahlgrenska Academy at Gothenburg University, Sweden. The insight that stemand progenitor-cells contribute to replacement of nerve cells in the adult central nervous syst...

Müllerian inhibiting substance (MIS or anti-Müllerian hormone) is a member of the transforming growth factor-beta family and plays a pivotal role in proper male sexual differentiation. Members of this family signal by the assembly of two related serine/threonine kinase receptors, referred to as type I or type II receptors, and downstream cytoplasmic Smad effector proteins. Although the MIS type...

Alejandre-Alcázar MA, Kwapiszewska G, Reiss I, Amarie OV, Marsh LM, Sevilla-Pérez J, Wygrecka M, Eul B, Köbrich S, Hesse M, Schermuly RT, Seeger W, Eickelberg O, Morty RE. Hyperoxia modulates TGF/BMP signaling in a mouse model of bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 292: L537–L549, 2007. First published October 27, 2006; doi:10.1152/ajplung.00050.2006.—Prematurely born...

Hemojuvelin (HJV) is a coreceptor for bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling that regulates hepcidin expression and iron metabolism. However, the precise combinations of BMP ligands and receptors used by HJV remain unknown. HJV has also been demonstrated to bind to neogenin, but it is not known whether this interaction has a role in regulating hepcidin expression. In the present study, we s...