Teratogen responsive signaling pathways in organogenesis stage mouse limbs

The Murine Limb Bud in Culture as an In Vitro Teratogenicity Test System

There is widespread interest today in the use of in vitro methods to study normal and abnormal development. The limb is attractive in this context since much is known about pattern formation during limb development. The murine limb bud culture technique described in this chapter was developed and refined in the 1970s. In this culture system, limb development mimics the in vivo process, although at a slower rate, where growth and cartilage differentiation lead to the formation of proximal and distal structures with an "in vivo-like" 3D shape. Uniform developmental stages are selected for assessment, exposures are controlled precisely, and the confounding influences of maternal metabolism and transport are avoided. The existence of transgenic mice with fluorescent markers for the different stages of endochondral ossification adds a further dimension to the technique by allowing striking time course observations of the developing limb. Today, limb bud cultures are used to study the roles of genes during embryogenesis and the mechanisms by which chemicals interfere with critical signalling pathways.

Dinosaurs, Chameleons, Humans, and Evo-Devo Path: Linking Étienne Geoffroy's Teratology, Waddington's Homeorhesis, Alberch's Logic of "Monsters," and Goldschmidt Hopeful "Monsters"

Since the rise of evo-devo (evolutionary developmental biology) in the 1980s, few authors have attempted to combine the increasing knowledge obtained from the study of model organisms and human medicine with data from comparative anatomy and evolutionary biology in order to investigate the links between development, pathology, and macroevolution. Fortunately, this situation is slowly changing, with a renewed interest in evolutionary developmental pathology (evo-devo-path) in the past decades, as evidenced by the idea to publish this special, and very timely, issue on "Developmental Evolution in Biomedical Research." As all of us have recently been involved, independently, in works related in some way or another with evolution and developmental anomalies, we decided to join our different perspectives and backgrounds in the present contribution for this special issue. Specifically, we provide a brief historical account on the study of the links between evolution, development, and pathologies, followed by a review of the recent work done by each of us, and then by a general discussion on the broader developmental and macroevolutionary implications of our studies and works recently done by other authors. Our primary aims are to highlight the strength of studying developmental anomalies within an evolutionary framework to understand morphological diversity and disease by connecting the recent work done by us and others with the research done and broader ideas proposed by authors such as Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Waddington, Goldschmidt, Gould, and Per Alberch, among many others to pave the way for further and much needed work regarding abnormal development and macroevolution.

Effects of exposure to a DNA damaging agent on the hypoxia inducible factors in organogenesis stage mouse limbs

Hypoxia plays a critical role in coordinating cell survival, differentiation and death in normal embryogenesis; during limb pattern formation, hypoxia affects two key processes, chondrogenesis and cell death. Hypoxia promotes chondrocyte differentiation and cartilage matrix synthesis and suppresses terminal differentiation. Depending on the context, hypoxia may induce cell cycle arrest, pro- or anti-apoptotic genes, or autophagy. The response to hypoxia is controlled by hypoxia inducible transcription factors, specifically Hif1a, Hif2a and Hif3a. Under normoxia, the hypoxia-inducible factors respond to a variety of stimuli that include several well established teratogens, such as retinoic acid, heavy metals and hyperglycemia. We hypothesize that teratogenic exposures disrupt limb development by altering the hypoxia signalling pathway. To test this hypothesis, we assessed the effects of a DNA damaging alkylating agent, 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide, on the hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) transcription factors and on hypoxia in the murine limb bud culture system. 4-Hydroperoxycyclophosphamide exposure increased HIF1 DNA binding activity and HIF1A and HIF2A, but not HIF3A, protein concentrations. HIF1A and HIF2A immunoreactivities were detected in the apical ectodermal ridge and interdigital regions, where cell death sculpts the limb; 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide treatment enhanced their immunoreactivities, specifically in these regions. In contrast, hypoxia was localized to areas of chondrogenesis, the cartilaginous anlagen of the developing long bone and phalanges, and was not enhanced by drug exposure. Thus, the exposure of limb buds in vitro to a DNA damaging teratogen triggered a hypoxia signalling response that was associated with cell death. During limb development the HIFs have oxygen-independent functions.

The murine limb bud in culture as an in vitro teratogenicity test system

There is widespread interest today in the use of in vitro methods to study normal and abnormal development. The limb is attractive in this context, since much is known about pattern formation during limb development. The murine limb bud culture technique described in this chapter was developed and refined in the 1970s. In this culture system, limb development mimics that in vivo, although the rate is slower. Growth and cartilage differentiation lead to the formation of proximal and distal structures with an "in vivo-like" 3D shape. Today, limb bud cultures are used to study the roles of genes during embryogenesis and the mechanisms by which chemicals interfere with critical signaling pathways. In this system, uniform developmental stages are selected for assessment, exposures are controlled precisely, and the confounding influences of maternal metabolism and transport are avoided.