introduction: oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of various diseases affecting chondrogenesis or the function of articular cartilage. the purpose of the present study was to find the effect of soybean extract on reduction of detoriation effects of oxidativestress in embryonic chondrogenesis in vitro. methods: in order to separate ectoderm from mesenchyme, the limb buds of ...

The undifferentiated vertebrate limb bud is a selforganizing system. If transplanted to a favorable ectopic location, the limb bud is capable of developing into a morphologically normal limb (Harrison, 1918), and the anterior-posterior polarity of the transplanted limb is determined by the graft rather than the host environment. Great progress has recently been made in understanding the molecul...

Neural cell adhesion molecules (NCAM) was expressed transiently by mesenchymal cells in precartilaginous condensations of the embryonic chicken limb but was lost upon differentiation into cartilage. Consequently, NCAM was present in the periphery of the limb anlagen but was absent in the cartilaginous center of the growing limb. To determine NCAM function in limb bud chondrogenesis we incubated...

During endochondral ossification in the vertebrate limb, multipotent mesenchymal cells first differentiate into chondroblasts (chondrogenesis) that further differentiate (via chondrocyte hypertrophy) to a terminal cellular phenotype. Dlx5 and Dlx6 are functionally redundant regulators of chondrocyte hypertrophy. We now show that Dlx5 and Dlx6 also regulate the earlier step of chondrogenesis in ...

Mouse Twist is essential for cranial neural tube, limb and somite development. [Genes Dev. 9 (1995) 686]. To identify the molecular defects disrupting limb morphogenesis, we have analysed expression of mesenchymal transcription factors involved in patterning and the cell-cell signalling cascades controlling limb bud development. These studies establish that Twist is essential for maintenance an...

Epithelial-mesenchymal feedback signaling is the key to diverse organogenetic processes such as limb bud development and branching morphogenesis in kidney and lung rudiments. This study establishes that the BMP antagonist gremlin (Grem1) is essential to initiate these epithelial-mesenchymal signaling interactions during limb and metanephric kidney organogenesis. A Grem1 null mutation in the mou...

In the legless lizard, Ophisaurus apodus, the hind-limb primordium appears on the caudal extremity of the Wolffian ridge at an early stage in the development of the embryo (4-2 mm long). Three somites each send an extension into this young bud and distribute cells in its mesenchymal mass of cells. An apical epiblastic ridge, appearing as a fold from the exterior, forms on the limb-bud, which at...

Cell shape is known to influence the chondrogenic differentiation of cultured limb bud mesenchyme cells (Solursh, M., T. F. Linsenmayer, and K. L. Jensen, 1982, Dev. Biol., 94: 259-264). To test whether specific cytoskeletal components mediate this influence of cell shape, we examined different cytoskeleton disrupting agents for their ability to affect chondrogenesis. Limb bud cells cultured at...

Correct development of the limb is dependent on coordination between three distinct signaling centers. Recently, fibroblast growth factor-4 has been identified as a crucial determinant of AER function, which directs limb bud outgrowth, and Sonic hedgehog has been identified as a signaling molecule that mediates ZPA function, which specifies anterior-posterior patterning in the developing limb b...