The Lhx9-integrin pathway is essential for positioning of the proepicardial organ
Abstract
The development of the vertebrate embryonic heart occurs by hyperplastic growth as well as the incorporation of cells from tissues outside of the initial heart field. Amongst these tissues is the epicardium, a cell structure that develops from the precursor proepicardial organ on the right side of the septum transversum caudal to the developing heart. During embryogenesis, cells of the proepicardial organ migrate, adhere and envelop the maturing heart, forming the epicardium. The cells of the epicardium then delaminate and incorporate into the heart giving rise to cardiac derivatives, including smooth muscle cells and cardiac fibroblasts. Here, we demonstrate that the LIM homeodomain protein Lhx9 is transiently expressed in Xenopus proepicardial cells and is essential for the position of the proepicardial organ on the septum transversum. Utilizing a small-molecule screen, we found that Lhx9 acts upstream of integrin-paxillin signaling and consistently demonstrate that either loss of Lhx9 or disruption of the integrin-paxillin pathway results in mis-positioning of the proepicardial organ and aberrant deposition of extracellular matrix proteins. This leads to a failure of proepicardial cell migration and adhesion to the heart, an...Continue Reading
References
Citations
Related Concepts
Related Feeds
Cell Migration
Cell migration is involved in a variety of physiological and pathological processes such as embryonic development, cancer metastasis, blood vessel formation and remoulding, tissue regeneration, immune surveillance and inflammation. Here is the latest research.
Adhesion Molecules in Health and Disease
Cell adhesion molecules are a subset of cell adhesion proteins located on the cell surface involved in binding with other cells or with the extracellular matrix in the process called cell adhesion. In essence, cell adhesion molecules help cells stick to each other and to their surroundings. Cell adhesion is a crucial component in maintaining tissue structure and function. Discover the latest research on adhesion molecule and their role in health and disease here.