Booting up the organism during development: Pre-behavioral functions of the vertebrate brain in guiding body morphogenesis

Communicative & Integrative Biology
Celia Herrera-Rincon, Michael Levin

Abstract

A recent study inXenopus laevisembryos showed that the very early brain has important functions long before behavior. While the nascent brain is being constructed, it is required for normal patterning of the muscle and peripheral nerve networks, including those far away from the head. In addition to providing important developmental signals to remote tissues in normal embryogenesis, its presence is also able to render harmless exposure to specific chemicals that normally act as teratogens. These activities of the early brain can be partially compensated for in a brainless embryo by experimental modulation of neurotransmitter and ion channel signaling. Here, we discuss the major findings of this paper in the broader context of developmental physiology, neuroscience, and biomedicine. This novel function of the embryonic brain has significant implications, especially for understanding developmental toxicology and teratogenesis in the context of pharmaceutical and environmental reagents.

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Citations

Feb 13, 2020·Npj Regenerative Medicine·Celia Herrera-RinconMichael Levin
Mar 5, 2020·Communicative & Integrative Biology·Chris Fields, Michael Levin
Feb 9, 2021·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Giovanni PezzuloMichael Levin
Feb 4, 2021·Npj Regenerative Medicine·Celia Herrera-RinconMichael Levin
Nov 23, 2021·Tissue Engineering. Part B, Reviews·Ryan Phillip TruemanJames Phillips

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
amputation

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