A 13 year old boy, developed bilateral facial weakness, dysphonia and dysphagia acutely after a febrile illness. Neurological examination and MRI of the brain were normal. The CSF protein level increased. Blink reflex monitoring during clinical recovery was consistent with demyelination of the lower cranial nerves innervating the branchial arch musculature, a rare variant of Guillain-Barré synd...

Background: Previous epidemiological findings have implicated hypoxia as a risk factor for craniofacial defects including cleft lip, microtia and branchial arch anomalies. This study tests the hypothesis that hypoxic exposure results in craniofacial shape variation in a zebrafish model. Methods: Three sets of zebrafish embryos were raised in uniform conditions with the exception of dissolved ox...

BACKGROUND In vertebrates, the skeletal elements of the jaw, together with the connective tissues and tendons, originate from neural crest cells, while the associated muscles derive mainly from cranial mesoderm. Previous studies have shown that neural crest cells migrate in close association with cranial mesoderm and then circumscribe but do not penetrate the core of muscle precursor cells of t...

In this study we have cloned the chick Hoxa-2 gene and analysed its expression during early development. We find that Hoxa-2 has a rostral limit of expression in the rhombencephalic neural tube corresponding precisely to the boundary between rhombomeres (r)1 and 2; a limit further rostral than any other Hox gene reported to date. Neural crest migrates from r2 to populate the first branchial arc...

Objective. To find out the incidence of involvement of individual arches, anatomical types of lesions, the age and sex incidence, the site and side of predilection, the common clinical features, the common investigations, treatment, and complications of the different anomalies. Setting. Academic Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Design. A 10 year retrospective study. Particip...

A 2-year-old boy with recurrent abscesses of on the left side of the neck due to pyriform sinus fistula is presented. Pyriform sinus fistula may cause acute suppurative thyroiditis and induce anterior cervical swelling, as in this case. Cervical computed tomography and barium swallow X-ray examination are important methods to diagnose of pyriform sinus fistula. Nearly all reported pyriform sinu...

Cranial neural crest cells migrate in a precisely segmented manner to form cranial ganglia, facial skeleton and other derivatives. Here, we investigate the mechanisms underlying this patterning in the axolotl embryo using a combination of tissue culture, molecular markers, scanning electron microscopy and vital dye analysis. In vitro experiments reveal an intrinsic component to segmental migrat...

Intercellular interactions within the branchial arch (BA) system is essential for craniofacial development. Endothelin-1 (ET-1), produced by the branchial epithelium and core mesenchyme, acts on cranial neural crest-derived ectomesenchymcal cells expressing endothelin A receptor (ETAR) and regulates expression of crucial genes such as Dlx6, a member of distalless homeobox gene family, and its d...

A mathematic-geometric model was used to evaluate the variation of mandibular dental arch length with respect to the incisor inclination, but without modifying the intercanine width. In analytical terms, the equations of the curves representing the lower dental arch, before and after incisor inclination of 1 mm and of 1 degree, with controlled and uncontrolled tipping, were studied. The length ...