FGF8 and Shh promote the survival and maintenance of multipotent neural crest progenitors.

The developmental mechanisms that control the building of the complex head of vertebrates and particularly, facial skeletogenesis, remain poorly known. Progenitor cells derived from the embryonic neural crest (NC) are the major constituents and players of facial tissue development. Deciphering the cellular and molecular machinery that controls NC cell (NCC) differentiation into bone, cartilage, fat and other mesenchymal tissues, is thus a main issue for understanding vertebrate facial variations. In this work, we investigated the effects of fibroblast growth factor 8 (FGF8) and Sonic Hedgehog (Shh), two signaling molecules essential for craniofacial development, on the in vitro differentiation and multipotentiality of mesencephalic NCCs (MNCCs) isolated from the quail embryo. Comparison of distinct temporal treatments with FGF8 and/or Shh showed that both promoted chondrogenesis of MNCCs by increasing the amount and size of cartilage nodules. Higher rates of chondrogenesis were observed when MNCCs were treated with FGF8 during the migration phase, thus mimicking the in vivo exposure of migrating NCCs to FGF8 secreted by the isthmic brain signaling center. An in vitro cell cloning assay revealed that, after concomitant treatment with FGF8 and Shh, about 80% of NC progenitors displayed chondrogenic potential, while in untreated cultures, only 18% exhibited this potential. In addition, colony analysis showed for the first time the existence of a highly multipotent progenitor able to clonally give rise to adipocytes in addition to other cephalic NC phenotypes (i.e. glial cells, neurons, melanocytes, smooth muscle cells and chondrocytes) (GNMFCA progenitor). This progenitor was observed only when clonal cultures were treated with both FGF8 and Shh. Several other types of multipotent cells, which generated four, five or six distinct phenotypes, accounted for 55% of the progenitors in FGF8 and Shh treated cultures, versus 13,5% in the untreated ones. Together, these data reveal an essential role for both FGF8 and Shh together in maintenance of MNCC multipotentiality by favoring the development of NC progenitors endowed with a broad array of mesectodermal potentials.

Fibroblast growth factor 2 promotes the self-renewal of bipotent glial smooth muscle neural crest progenitors.

The neural crest (NC) is an attractive system for investigating the mechanisms underlying cell lineage diversification in higher vertebrates. The NC contains a mixed population of already defined precursors and multipotent cells that can give rise to a great variety of cell types, including glial cells and neurons of the peripheral nervous system, melanocytes, and smooth muscle cells (SMCs). Microenvironmental factors, such as the fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), found along migratory paths and in target tissues, strongly influence the fate of multipotent NC precursors. We have previously demonstrated that the FGF2 promotes the differentiation of NC cells to glial phenotypes, while the epidermal growth factor induces NC differentiation to neurons and melanocytes. In the present study, we used mass cultures and single-cell culture assays to demonstrate that FGF2 influences NC cell differentiation and increases the proportion of multipotent progenitors. Furthermore, we demonstrate for the first time that avian tripotent glial, melanocyte and smooth muscle NC progenitors, as well as bipotent melanocyte and smooth muscle NC progenitors, are capable of self-renewal. FGF2 significantly stimulated the self-renewal of bipotent progenitor cells with glial cells and SMC potentials. These cells propagated for many generations and behaved as stem cells. These results suggest an important role of FGF2 in maintaining the stemness of avian NC cells.

Fibronectin promotes differentiation of neural crest progenitors endowed with smooth muscle cell potential.

The neural crest (NC) is a model system used to investigate multipotency during vertebrate development. Environmental factors control NC cell fate decisions. Despite the well-known influence of extracellular matrix molecules in NC cell migration, the issue of whether they also influence NC cell differentiation has not been addressed at the single cell level. By analyzing mass and clonal cultures of mouse cephalic and quail trunk NC cells, we show for the first time that fibronectin (FN) promotes differentiation into the smooth muscle cell phenotype without affecting differentiation into glia, neurons, and melanocytes. Time course analysis indicated that the FN-induced effect was not related to massive cell death or proliferation of smooth muscle cells. Finally, by comparing clonal cultures of quail trunk NC cells grown on FN and collagen type IV (CLIV), we found that FN strongly increased both NC cell survival and the proportion of unipotent and oligopotent NC progenitors endowed with smooth muscle potential. In contrast, melanocytic progenitors were prominent in clonogenic NC cells grown on CLIV. Taken together, these results show that FN promotes NC cell differentiation along the smooth muscle lineage, and therefore plays an important role in fate decisions of NC progenitor cells.